When a country’s largest bank announces it will be launching crypto ATMs, you know something big is going down. The Union Bank of Philippines has announced that it will be unveiling two new crypto ATMs and that it has the blessing of the country’s central bank. This could spark a wave of mass adoption in the Philippines, as citizens can easily get their hands on crypto when they make a trip to the bank.
Just Two ATMs for Now
The exact location of the two new crypto ATMs that Union Bank will be installing is not yet known, but it’s expected that they will be installed in branches in Manilla. The ATMs will be state-of-the-art two-way crypto ATMs, meaning users can exchange crypto into Pesos and from Pesos into cryptos. The cryptos supported by the ATM haven’t been revealed yet, but Bitcoin is likely to be one of the accepted digital currencies.
Crypto ATMs on the Rise
Crypto ATMs are becoming more popular and more numerous around the globe. In November 2018, we saw the global count of crypto ATMs rise to 4,000. While the majority of these reside in North America, there was a great number of the ATMs throughout Europe and Asia. Fast forward to today, and there is more than 4,300 crypto ATMs spread across 76 countries. As time passes, we will eventually see crypto ATMs become mainstream.
Turning Change into Crypto
Many people collect their spare change and use coin converters to change this spare change into hard cash. Coinstar has teamed up with Coinme to allow Americans to convert their spare change into crypto. While you’re not going to be able to buy a Lamborghini with the crypto you can rustle up from this, but if you keep converting your spare change it might become possible in a few years. Change converters are highly popular, and if more machines are converted to accept crypto, we could see a new wave of crypto adoption, especially amongst the younger generation.
The Philippines isn’t synonymous with Bitcoin and crypto use, but as time rolls on we are starting to see more activity happening there. These two ATMs are just the beginning of the crypto adventure for the Philippines and represent the tip of the iceberg. If they go down well, we can expect to see more popping up all around the country in the coming months.
