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Comment by capableweb | Hacker News Reader

> There are no crypto ATMs registered with the FCA, meaning any crypto ATM operating in the UK is doing so illegally.

Who is stupid enough to operate a ATM (cryptocurrency or not) illegally? This has the be the height of stupidity.

To some people making 20% of $25 million for almost no work is worth it for 2 years in prison (https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/yorba-linda-man-sentenc...). Higher risk tolerance I guess.

These things have been around for years now. In the early days maybe they assumed they could be just be classed as vending machines.

The one Bitcoin ATM in New Zealand has turnover of +$200k/week. That's a lot of stupid money.

?! citations please

Personal relationship with the guy who owns it.

Great question! I wonder if there are laws or loopholes that could make it ok, or how it compares to other forms of intermediary Exonumia/tokens[1] that can be exchanged for goods or cash? [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonumia [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_token

Probably people with not a lot of other options to turn crypto into some more liquid? IIRC most UK banks (including challengers) are completely hostile to anything crypto, so I'm not sure what options one would have.

Not really the case. Some have limits and bans but it is not across the board and many banks don't have restrictions. The issue is the bank is semi-responsible to refund if someone gets scammed and sends money to an exchange and they have been taking huge losses on this; so I imagine some are just blocking it instead.

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