Less than a week after surviving, Beijing's Bitcoin ATMs have been evacuated

Author | Qin Xiaofeng

Editor | Lu Xiaoming

Produced by | Odaily Planet Daily

(On-site experience)

Recently, a self-service Bitcoin purchasing machine appeared in Yunji Yinju Courtyard in Beijing, attracting attention from the industry.

On May 20, Odaily Planet Daily made an on-site visit and found that the machine was suddenly withdrawn less than a week after it was launched on the market.

Project founder Liu Heming told Odaily Planet Daily that "the machine is a test version of a Bitcoin ATM" and "due to policy considerations, the company will not launch it in mainland China in the future."

What is a Bitcoin OTM machine?

Liu Heming explained that the Bitcoin ATM that appeared in Yunji Siheyuan on May 14 was an OTM (OTC Teller Machine).

"Unlike the centralized Bitcoin ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) on the market, OTM is a decentralized design. The background of the machine is a C2C transaction matching mechanism, and the funds paid by the buyer go directly to the seller's Alipay or WeChat." Liu Heming said.

The operation process of OTM is as follows: the user selects the amount of Bitcoin to be purchased (for example, 100 yuan) through the machine, and the machine will give three options with different amounts of Bitcoin; click on an option and pay through Alipay or WeChat, and the machine will spit out a card; after the user gets the card, he can use the Bitpay wallet to scan the QR code on the card and enter the password to import the corresponding amount of Bitcoin.

(Transaction screenshot)

It is worth noting that currently, Bitcoin OTM machines can only buy Bitcoin, but cannot withdraw cash (convert Bitcoin into legal currency). "It is currently a one-way C2C matching mechanism, and we are considering doing the reverse in the future."

An important question is whether the price at which users buy Bitcoin is synchronized with the market price. Liu Heming said that Bitcoin OTC (over-the-counter) sellers can set their own Bitcoin prices by connecting to the API, which is not entirely the market price.

"There is no handling fee. The price of the coin is set by the seller. We are just a matchmaking platform." Liu Heming explained that the team's profit comes from machine sales. "Currently, we are recruiting machine owners and sharing 5% of the turnover."

Since the machine is currently under testing, the API interface is not open to the outside world.

Will the new version of the machine in the future open other cryptocurrency purchase channels? Liu Heming denied this, saying, "The subsequent versions will still be Bitcoin. Our goal is to allow more people to buy Bitcoin directly."

Why the hasty retreat?

On May 14, Liu Heming said in a WeChat group that two Bitcoin OTMs would be deployed in Beijing, one in Yunji Siheyuan and the other in the shopping malls around Beiqing Road.

Odaily Planet Daily made an on-site visit today and found that the Bitcoin OTM machine located in Yunji Courtyard had been moved away.

"We were invited to test the machine at Yunji Siheyuan, and we moved it away after the test." Liu Heming explained that due to policy considerations, the machine will not be deployed in mainland China in the future. "It is mainly aimed at overseas Chinese circles that support WeChat and Alipay, and we plan to deploy 1,000 machines."

Liu Heming's answer is somewhat different from what he said a week ago (May 14). At that time, some people questioned that Bitcoin trading was banned in mainland China and that Bitcoin OTM had policy risks.

Liu Heming once said: "We are just buying a commodity. The definition of BTC in China has always been a commodity, not a currency. It is illegal to hold BTC without a definition."

Lawyer Xiao Sa, director of the China Banking Law Research Association, affirmed this statement. "In 2013, my country gave a legal definition to Bitcoin as a "specific virtual commodity". Holding this virtual commodity is currently tolerated by the law. Holders are allowed to exchange it, but it is opposed to speculation and driving up the price of virtual currency."

However, at present, Liu Heming still has some concerns about the policy. He said that he had not given enough consideration to the policy before, and now he chose to withdraw in order to avoid policy risks.

postscript

According to the Bitcoin ATM Map, as of May 19, there are 4,806 Bitcoin ATMs in 77 countries around the world, 44 more than last week. The country with the largest number of installations is the United States (3,014 machines), followed by Canada (695 machines) and Austria (271 machines). North American installations account for 73.1%, the same as last week.

According to Sina Finance, the only Bitcoin ATM in China is currently placed at the front desk of the Shanghai office of BitChina. This ATM was introduced to Shanghai in early 2014 and was manufactured by Iceland's Lamassu. However, after the country issued a ban on virtual currencies, this machine can only be used as an ornamental collectible and cannot be operated.