Widely Available ATM Access in the UK Brings Bitcoin Ever Closer To Mass Adoption

Bitcoin sales from cash withdrawals are expected to reach an unprecedented scale in the UK, as the Cryptocurrency becomes widely available at over 16,000 ATM Machines across the UK for the first time from December 2020.

The East London-based Cryptocurrency company BitcoinPoint announced today that bitcoin holders can now cash out bitcoin at Cashzone ATM machines across the entire UK. This newly announced collaboration with Pin4, an innovative solution that enables businesses to deliver cash to recipients’ mobile devices for immediate collection at a participating ATM -the recipient is sent a text message with the details to be input at any Cashzone Pin4 enabled ATM (over 16,000 machines) to obtain the cash - promises to make convenient access to the Bitcoin market a reality for everyone living, working or travelling in the UK.

User-friendly processes to securely buy, sell and use cryptocurrency have long been a hurdle to widespread adoption. BitcoinPoint has helped to break down these barriers with a mobile app that makes it safe and easy to buy and sell bitcoin at a network of agents, from Bureaus de Change to newsagents, as well as online through an innovative instant bank transfer solution called Open Banking.

“When we started the service early 2018, there was not enough emphasis on making it easier for people to simply buy £5 of bitcoin,” writes BitcoinPoint CEO and former Credit Suisse VP Benoit Marzouk. “Since registering on a crypto exchange could be a complex process for non-tech savvy people, the scarce availability of bitcoin ATMs made accessibility of bitcoin problematic.“

Despite BitcoinPoint's impressive 20,000 successful transactions online and in store, it's been clear that collaborative partnerships in the ATM and the Point Of Sale industries remained a necessary step towards the true democratization of Bitcoin accessibility across a wider audience and spread of locations. The partnership between BitcoinPoint and Cashzone promises to finally deliver on the potential for mass adoption and ease of use of Bitcoin.

Converting Bitcoin to cash has never been simpler. After registering to the BitcoinPoint.com website, the user enters the amount desired to be withdrawn (multiples of ten pounds), scans a QR code, and received an SMS message with a pin code to be entered at the ATM—no card or bank membership is required and the transaction is processed within seconds.

Bitcoin's recent rally to a new record on the side, Marzouk refers to this paradigm-shifting level of accessibility as “hyper-bitcoinization” and argues that it will lead to a level of widespread adoption that will allow Bitcoin to compete on a level playing field with fiat currencies. His perspective is one that is increasingly being echoed at the highest levels of international finance. Larry Fink—CEO of Blackrock, the world's largest fund manager—expressed earlier this month his belief that Bitcoin makes the US dollar less relevant and can evolve into a dominant global market. This year, more than 80% of central banks were studying the concept of CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currency) directly inspired by Bitcoin, with China planning to unroll a digital Yuan in 2022 and the Eurozone following suit in the next two to four years (as announced by European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde). All these developments increase the momentum behind Bitcoin's evolution towards becoming the world's new monetary standard, one that cannot be debased by governments and central banks printing money at will and most recently due to an unprecedented level of stimulus that is very likely to continue.

The Financial Conduct Authority is now actively regulating the sector in accordance with AML / CFT regulations, and will be requiring all crypto companies reaching the retail market to be registered by 2021 and only 91 firms received the temporary FCA registration permission to trade till July.

Marzouk welcomes the increased regulatory scrutiny mainly to enforce KYC, citing the benefits for consumer protection and law enforcement, and the resulting rise in credibility and the stability across the emerging Decentralised Finance (DeFi) sector.

The benefits of this emerging landscape will be felt across the world. The Global Remittance Market (money sent by individuals across national boundaries) is currently valued at over $500 billion per year, and is still very much dependent on physical cash, traditional banks, legacy systems, high levels of state control, and money transfer companies that often charge as much as 20% in commission.

As Bitcoin prices tend to be higher in emerging markets, many foreign workers could avoid such high fees from money transfer companies by sending bitcoin back home that could be cashed out for local currency with a net profit! The global availability of bitcoin trading through an existing network of widely available ATMs (backed by brick-and-mortar offices and live agents) will be revolutionary: an off-ramp pathway that promises to democratise access to cryptocurrencies worldwide.

Bitcoin trading is censorship resistant, and seizure resistant if you choose to self-custody and therefore free of immediate corporate control, and a gift for the unbanked that would no longer need to keep all their salaries in cash with the inherent risks.

Bitcoin has also all the properties of a good store of value to compete with gold: scarcity, durability, uniformity and portability. But bitcoin is not just digital gold it's also a P2P network, Programmable money, a settlement network and an alternative investment opening the Pandora box of the emerging crypto industry.

A truly universal economy cannot be forever subject to the limitations of national monetary policies especially if central banks can infinitely create money. the Nobel Laureate in Economics Friederich Hayek theorized it in his book “Denationalisation of Money” after the US decision to suspend gold convertibility. BitcoinPoint's move towards hyper-bitcoinization represents not only a resounding step towards universal bitcoin adoption, but also a transformative moment in the evolution of individual economic empowerment—a currency marker that is truly global, democratic, secure and universally accessible.

Further information can be found at www.bitcoinpoint.com


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