Bitcoin cash machine pops up in Tech City, offering digital dough for banknotes

Inhabitants of London's TechCity can now grab some Bitcoins along with their coffee, after the UK's first cash machine offering the digital currency popped up in a trendy Shoreditch cafe.

The new machine at the trendy Old Shoreditch Cafe and Bar allows users to scan the QR code on their Bitcoin wallet, insert some banknotes and receive some of that en vogue digital currency in return.

The $3,000 machine, sold by Lassana, is basically a Google Nexus 7 running a bespoke application and an additional QR code scanned, enclosed within a safe box that can count-up and store physical cash.

Within a few taps of the touchscreen users can top up their Bitcoin accounts and trade them in for offerings at the cafe, which has accepted the currency for over a year.

The machine is limited to deposits of £1,000 per transaction, with the proprietor Joel Raziel opting against allowing users to sell their Bitcoins and thicken their wallets with some real cash.

Investment

"We've had a great response," Raziel told the International Business Times. "Including a mother and child who came in to buy the child his first fraction of a bitcoin as an investment for the future, which was very cute."

One bloke even made the trip down from Manchester just to use the machine, Raziel revealed.

Is the Shoreditch Cafe starting a new craze that'll see businesses up and down the UK bring in their own 'reverse' cash machines?

Let's face it, if anything from Shoreditch is going to spread to the rest of the country, we'd rather it be cool tech than those folks' terrible fashion choices and facial hair configurations.

• Did someone just unmask the mysterious creator of Bitcoin?

Via Telegraph