“Rolf Deppe and his business partner, Monre Botes decided that they wanted to bring a Bitcoin vending machine to South Africa. At the time there were about 100 around the world, but none on the African continent. We wanted to push the envelope, so we ordered one, and three months later it landed on our shores.” Bitcoin ATM Deppe goes on to say that the ‘vending machine is situated in Kyalami, north of Johannesburg, at a business called Metroman.
Gareth Vanzyl from Fin24 mentions that “late last year, the value of Bitcoin shot through $1 000 amid a buying frenzy. But the price has since dropped below $400 amid setbacks such as the crypto-currency being used on Internet black-market Silk Road to buy drugs and other goods.”
Bitcoin has also gone digital with an app called BitX, which is a virtual wallet. ‘The BitX app targets countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Namibia and Malaysia, and aims making buying and selling of the crypto-currency easier through the press of a touchscreen.’
The National Treasury, the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb), the Financial Services Board (FSB), the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the Financial Intelligence Centre issued a statement on virtual currencies. “Users of virtual currencies can therefore become susceptible to fraudulent or any other criminal behaviour as they may be less circumspect than usual when faced with the promise of high return investment opportunities.”
Do you traded in Bitcoins yet? Let us know .
***Sources***
Wikipedia
Gareth VanZyl- FIN24
Regardt Van der Berg- Tech Central
