Four years ago in China there was the first in the history of this country bitcoin-ATM. At that time, the yuan was dominant in the sphere of the world's crypto currency trade from fi xed currencies. Now, after the ban on the turnover of digital currencies in China, the machine does not function.
Journalists of the Shanghai newspaper Jiefang Daily recently visited the headquarters of one of the world's oldest crypto exchange BTCC and found the same bitcoin ATM in the reception office. The ATM is there "in memory". According to the newspaper, the screen of the car shows that there are no bitcoins available for trade, since the BTCC suspended service following a government ban.
Currently, there are 2870 bit-machines in 67 countries, and the BTCC machine, according to the CoinATMradar website, is the only one in China.
In April 2014, BTCC, then known as BTC China, installed the machine at a cafe in the Zhangjiagang High Technology Park in Shanghai, sometimes called the Chinese Silicon Valley. The machine allowed users to buy bitcoins directly from the exchange. Reuters reported shortly after installing the machine:
The car was practically idle during the visit of journalists Reuters: it was used by only one client, however the manager of the cafe told that since the installation of the machine he had observed a steady stream of clients carrying out rather modest transactions.
Fearing financial instability, the Chinese authorities in September of 2017 began to prohibit ICO and trade in crypto-currencies, and subsequently got to the mining.
All the largest Chinese crypto-exchange companies, including BTCC, moved their operations outside the country, and local investors were forced to use such messengers as Telegram to continue their commercial activities. (In 2013, the Chinese central bank banned financial institutions and payment services from cooperating with bitokin projects, but this rule did not apply to crypto-exchange exchanges and private individuals trading crypto-currencies.)
After the machine stayed in the cafe for only three months, it was moved to the building of the head office of BTCC, which representatives of the company told local media.
The ATM remains a reminder of China's past fairly open policy with respect to the Crypto-currency. That era ended simultaneously with the disconnection of the lone - the only in the country - bitcoin-ATM.