Although appearing not long ago and not yet recognized by Vietnamese law, many people in Ho Chi Minh City still look to cafes and restaurants with integrated ATMs to transact bitcoin.
Inside a restaurant on Ly Tu Trong Street (District 1), there is a bitcoin transaction machine – called a BTM to distinguish it from regular ATMs. In addition to English and French languages, the machine also has Vietnamese language and the ability to transact in Vietnamese currency.
Answering the press, Mr. Trinh Minh Phuc, co-founder of Bitcoin Vietnam Company, which manages the bitcoin ATM on Ly Tu Trong Street, said that this store belongs to a friend. The machine is placed here for easy management to make the restaurant more crowded.
This BTM was imported to Vietnam in 2015. However, it took a year after completing the installation, selecting the location of the machine and related legal documents, for this BTM to officially operate. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has about four bitcoin ATMs.
Next to the BTM is a message from Bitcoin Vietnam; Due to taking advantage of the presence of this machine, many individuals and organizations dealing with illegal multi-level bitcoin businesses have come to film, take pictures and “receive” their owned machines in order to deceive users.
According to the staff of the cafe on Bui Vien Street (District 1), every day the bitcoin ATM here has about 5-10 customers making transactions.
Outwardly, this machine is similar to other ATMs, with full touch screen, QR code scanning camera, anti-theft camera, deposit/discharge slot and receipt printing slot. The only difference is that its interface is completely different from other ATMs of the bank.
Users need to enter their phone number and authentication code to enter the bitcoin buying interface.
The system will ask the user if there is an electronic wallet available to store bitcoins and if not, the system will automatically create a “virtual wallet” for the user and it will be printed through the receipt slot.
After that, the user needs to let the system scan the barcode of this wallet so that the system can send money. Next, users need to put money in through the slot below and the system automatically converts to bitcoin to send to their “virtual wallet”. A confirmation message will be sent to the pre-registered phone number, and the invoice is printed and the transaction is then completed.
Invoice printing slot and “virtual wallet” printing of the machine.
Next to the Bitcoin ATM tower, there is an electronic board running bitcoin price information for customers’ reference.
There are cafes with integrated bitcoin ATMs that warn customers about not accepting bitcoin payments at the cafe.