Coinstar Company that is mostly known for its coin counting machines which are mostly found in supermarkets and malls. Recently on 17 January Coinstar announced that they are in partnership with the state-licensed Bitcoin ATM company Coinme that will allow buyers to purchase bitcoin via cash at the kiosks store located across the US.
Coinstar machines are huge coin cashing machines that are located at drug stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets; they are mainly found in countries like UK, Canada, US, and Ireland. These machines are widely used by shopper’s in-order to convert loose change into bills or to convert into gift cards. As of now Coinstar operates in nine countries across the world and owes more than 20,000 coin counting machines. Despite many coin counting machines, only a few selected kiosks in the US will be available to buy bitcoin. The bitcoin can be only purchased only by US dollar bills, and the user is allowed to buy bitcoin of worth $2,500 at some selected stores like Safeway and Albertson located in California, Washington, and Texas. The user who purchases this bitcoin at one of these kiosks will receive a voucher that can be exchanged for bitcoin on their Coine website. Other coins and foreign currency exchange are considered invalid for purchasing bitcoin at any time as per the statement that was published by Coinstar.
After the cash has been deposited into the counting machine, the user will get a voucher along with a redemption Bitcoin code. These vouchers can be redeemed by opening an account on the company’s website.
The company further advertises the plan saying that it is one of the easiest and affordable means to purchase bitcoins using cash, but opinion varies.
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The Co-founder of Coinme’s Neil Bergquist commented that the Bitcoin is now available at your nearby local store’s trough Coinstar Kiosks, this method makes it even easier for the users to participate themselves in this dynamic new economy.
However purchasing bitcoin through cash is an expensive option, you need to pay a hefty amount to get them. The companies have not mentioned too much about it. Further on Coinme’s website mentions that 4 percent of the service fee is added to all the Coinme transaction. Coinme’s fee is presently at a lower level as compared to the minimum buying fee at bitcoin ATMs during 2018.
High fee
Coinstar has maintained a high fee demand. The user who wants to count their bitcoins needs to pay a big amount nearly the company has imposed 11.9 percent fee for the service wherein many bank organization offer the service for free. One of the most interesting announced is that the Bitcoin transaction cannot be made using coins.
The Bitcoin ATMs will play an important role in spreading the awareness to new customers, but this is not cheap.
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As per the reports that were published in November last year said that French-based Fintech Company named Keplerk made it possible by allowing tobacco shop users to purchase bitcoins in France. The activity affected nearly 24,000 tobacco shops in France wherein bitcoins are served as vouchers; the Vouchers can later be encashed using the Kepler’s wallet. The Fintech Company charges 7 percent on every transaction it does as a commission fee.
