[asciimo]

The conventional ATM experience only works because we have already gone through the pain of identifying ourselves to a bank, usually by sitting across the desk from another human being and filling out forms, during business hours. We often have to wait for an ATM card to arrive in the mail afterward. I think it's incredible that I can now go to a bar at 1AM for the same service. Plus beer and pool.

[GoldenMonkey]

Really? I can go to walmart and buy a pre-paid atm card with cash. And then use that card at an atm. No Id process required.

[SippinLean]

It's still harder to drive to Walmart during business hours than use a Robocoin.

[ceejayoz]

In many areas a round trip to Walmart will take a lot less than the 50 minutes described in the article.

[joshstrange]

Let's remember that this was the first time he used the ATM, it would appear that future interaction would only take the time to send the BTC to the robocoin wallet and wait for the confirmation (~10 min for the required 1 confirmation). 10 minutes is pretty quick IMO to convert BTC to cash, the only faster method would be using Local Bitcoins (which are the people running the ATM in this post) but that assumes you could organize, agree on a price, and meet up with another person in less than 10 minutes which I know from experience is pipe dream.

[bitJericho]

Last time I tried to get a prepaid card I still had to give out a bunch of personal info.

[Bpal]

Yeah, we take so many things for granted. If you had said 20 years ago that you get cash in just 30 min from an ATM without a card but with your cell phone and a palm scan, they would probably advise you to see a doctor.