I walked into the newsagent to get some water and nibbles as I was driving a long way to visit one of my customers on the outskirts of London. It should have been an uneventful occurrence to grab a bottle of water when my eyes darted to what I thought was an ATM machine. But this was no ordinary ATM.
It said ‘BITCOIN ATM Machine’
I instantly looked at the shop owner and he smiled back and said,’ I know what your thinking’ as if he had read my mind!
I am a passionate advocate for blockchain technology and recently qualified as an IBM Foundation Blockchain Developer to quench my growing thirst for how this technology suddenly became more mainstream and the ways in which it is already disrupting traditional industries. (see my last post where my co-founder Sukhi Jutla, became the works, first author, to have a book published on the blockchain.
I continued to look at the Bitcoin ATM machine as I had heard about their existence but till now thought it was the myth. I didn’t realize people were using cryptocurrency to pay for their water bottles already!
Though blockchain tech is relatively new (it’s under a decade old), I am a newcomer to this industry but it’s changing so fast already. I have recently begun to get really inspired and excited about the way this technology can bring about huge changes especially in making things move more efficiently. In the gold industry, this means more transparency in the supply chain process as well as in confirming the origin of products.
So thought I was surprised to see my first Bitcoin vending machine, it certainly won’t be the last time I will see it. Perhaps next time, I may even pay for my bottle of water with a cryptocurrency!
Written by CEO & Founder, Ram Krishnna Rao