Edinburgh becomes home to Scotland's second ever bitcoin ATM
Bitcoin ATM (BTM) provider Alphavend has installed a one-way BTM in Edinburgh, Scotland enabling users to buy the cryptocurrency with fiat sterling pound via a physical teller machine. With its installation at a traditional currency exchange, customers will be encouraged to swap other fiat currencies for bitcoin as well. CeX, a second-hand electronic games chain hosts Scotland’s first BTM in its Glasgow store. Recently, members of the pro-independence movement called for a Scotland-centric digital currency, ScotCoin, to be widely accepted.

Bitcoin ATM provider Alphavend has installed a one-way bitcoin ATM (BTM) in Edinburgh, enabling users to buy bitcoin with fiat sterling pound for the first time via a physical teller machine in the city.

Installed yesterday, the machine will be located at the foreign exchange outlet of the No 1 Currency Exchange, a fiat exchange establishment located at 34-35 Queensferry St, in Edinburgh.

As revealed by bitcoin ATM mapper CoinATMradar, bitcoin buying via the machine comes with a fee of 0.05 and a fee of 4.2%. Additionally, there is buy limit of £3,000 per transaction and a daily limit of £10,0000, according to the provider, although these figures are yet to be verified.

With its installation at a traditional currency exchange, customers will also be enabled to swap other fiat currencies, including the sterling pound, for buying the world’s most well-known and widely-implemented digital currency.

While Scotland’s capital sees its first bitcoin dispenser at a physical location, the country is now home to two bitcoin ATMs. CeX, a prominent second-hand goods chain based in the United Kingdom with over 320 stores in the region and more globally hosts Scotland’s first BTM in its Glasgow store at Sauchiehall Street. Installed in mid-2014, the machine continues to operate 7 days a week during store hours.

A Scottish Cryptocurrency

The pro-independence movement has made significant strides in Scotland in recent years bringing the spotlight on talk of a breakaway digital currency. While the sterling pound continues to operate as Scotland’s national currency in the aftermath of the national referendum where a majority voted to stay with the United Kingdom, there have been calls from members of Scottish Parliament advocating for the use of ScotPound, a digital currency centric to Scotland.

The call comes following a report released by the New Economics Foundation, a British think tank, underlining and proposing the viability of a new digital currency that would benefit Scotland both socially and economically.

George Kerevan, a member of parliament for the Scottish National Party stated:

What we need to do now is have a debate a discussion, on what the alternative [to the pound] is. Whether that’s a separate currency, sterlingisation, keeping the pound but doing our own thing – it has to begin with a discussion. That debate is beginning to happen.

A year on from those comments, pro-independence currency Scotcoin continues to exist, whilst not making any significant gains.

Still, Scotland is expected to vote ‘Yes’ during the second independence referendum in 2019, where it could elect to leave the European Union, as anticipated by American banking giant JPMorgan. In such a scenario, Scotland could be the first country in the world to veer toward a digital currency alongside a significant political and economic upheaval. This bitcoin-accepting Glasgow pub has a headstart, if digital currencies become the norm in Scotland.

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