Attacks on Bitcoin ATM's in the US - Is bitcoin reputation affected?
In the midwestern US, dozens of bitcoin ATMs' screens have been smashed with hammers, according to CoinDesk report.
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atms-attacked-hammers-us-midwest/
The perpetrators, Andrew Konja, Alvin Konja and Odai Mabroukare have been already sued by the company that owns said ATMs, SandP Solutions.
One of the perpetrators, Andrew Konja, was in fact operating his own bitcoin ATM business, wich was later sold or merged with Bitexpress.
Apparently, the motives behind this attack may have been for personal conflicts or as way to directly affect bitcoin ATM business competitors.
Is bitcoin reputation smeared?
Does this affect bitcoin reputation in any way? Although bitcoin has recently gained a higher renown on the general opinion, it is clear that it will take some more time to be actually as regular, day-to-day currency.
Bitcoin is known for the safety of its transactions, but still general public may not find bitcoin as appealing with news like these, considering that may be prone to vandalism just like any other regular currency.
Insertion of bitcoin into mainstream public
The creation of bitcoin ATMs represents a huge step on the introduction of bitcoin to those not related with blockchain technology. And considering Trump's apparent support for the cryptocurrency, the adoption might be even greater on the years to come. Let's just hope criminal acts like the main topic of this post doesn't affect general opinion on bitcoin.
The problem with this ATM concept is that it is all about bitcoin. These ATMs are too late in the game but nice to see. We need ATMs that have transactions in all cryptocurrencies or at least the top 20 by volume. It is a sad day for free markets that a coin has to be listed on an exchange then only bitcoin gets an ATM.
Indeed, but I do think they need to see if a cryptocurrency ATM would be a doable thing, and well the best they can do is start with bitcoin. If it succeed, well known alts like Ethereum are sure to follow.
The best thing that Trump can do for cryptocurrencies is to do nothing. We don't want any "help." Plus, if you put any hope in "politicians" that work for the "government" I feel sorry for you.
Anyway, thanks for sharing this information for I was unaware of bitcoin ATMs being vandalized. You should link to the CoinDesk article.
Well, you are right, after all cryptocurrencies are meant to be descentralized, and politics would do all but descentralize bitcoin. Just pointing out that figures like Trump could somehow give bitcoin a little boost into becoming a mainstream currency.
I just edited the article and put the coindesk source article, thanks for pointing out.