Reports from tech media today are showing what’s a pretty unusual phenomenon – the physical theft of a Bitcoin ATM machine by two thieves in Washington DC August 3.
It’s alleged that security cameras recorded the two suspects taking the machine from a mall area, and that the individual mall shops were closed when the theft happened.
The two allegedly carried the machine to a van and took it away.
Experts are shaking their heads, and also warning police not to look for a trail of bitcoin.
That’s because Bitcoin ATMs don’t have any physical Bitcoin in them – of course, physical Bitcoin doesn’t exist, except as a decorative token!
Instead, a Bitcoin ATM machine, like a regular ATM, is full of cash, which is what the thieves were targeting.
Many Bitcoin ATMs have bidirectional functionality – they will allow users to upload proof of Bitcoin holdings to get cash, or they will allow users to put in cash in order to buy Bitcoin.
Many Bitcoin ATM thefts like this one in Canada happen outside of the country. Another major high-profile Bitcoin ATM theft happened in July in Birmingham, England, in a case where it took police a week to notice the crime occurred.
It’s still unclear why a Finnish news media outlet was the first to report the U.S. theft, but this news is an interesting bellwether for what our financial world is going to look like in the years to come. SEC Bitcoin ETF approval, Bakkt BTC futures, and many other innovations all point to a wider adoption of Bitcoin value by individual investors and consumers. That’s part of why so many people call 2019 “the year of the blockchain.” The year is half over, but we’ll keep bringing you news of what’s going on with the top dog cryptocurrency around the world.