A new bitcoin ATM (BTM) has been opened in Itis, the largest shopping centre in Helsinki, by two major Finnish bitcoin companies Bittiraha.fi and Bitcoinkaupat.com. 

Installing BTMs is not an easy thing to do, explains Henry Brade, the founder of Bittiraha, to CoinTelegraph. Shopping centres are usually strongly prejudiced against bitcoin. It requires lengthy negotiations to persuade them to adopt more tolerant position towards the digital currency, he said.

At the moment, Bittiraha has 9 BTMs installed in Finland, among which there are 7 one-way and 2 two-way machines, including the new one in Itis. Another two-way BTM installed earlier by Bittiraha is in Kamppi, the most popular mall in the country. Bittiraha is planning to open another one-way BTM in Northern Finland, which will make it 10 machines in total.

Bittiraha is not the only company possessing BTMs in Finland, although it remains the market leader in the field. Another competitor mentioned by Henry Brade is LocalBitcoins.

Bitcoinkaupat, the partner company for the Itis BTM, was founded in 2014 “and became the leading provider of Bitcoin payment services in Finland”, according to CoinTelegraph.
Finland is among the countries where bitcoin and the blockchain technology are becoming more and more popular. In terms of bitcoin usage per capita it is one of the top three in the world. 

Bitcoin teller machines are still relatively rare. Coinfox has already written about BTMs installed in Miami, New York and Basel.

Andrew Levich