Despite the fact that Russia doesn’t support the bitcoin cryptocurrency and forbids any circulation of it in the country, first ATM to exchange the currency appeared in St. Petersburg.
As Fontanka.ru news website reported, the gadget is located at the Ostrov (Island) business-centre on the Vasilievsky island.
Address: 36, Sredniy Avenue of the Vasilievsky island.
The ATM also provides exchange for other cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin costs 72 900 rubles;
Zcash – 2358;
Ethereum — 1084;
Litecoin – 227.
Fontanka.ru contacted a representative of the company that installed the ATM and was said that there are five Bitcoin ATMs in St. Petersburg and some more to come. Their locations are unclear, but soon they will appear on Yandex and Google maps.
At the moment, the Internet-service Coinatmradar provides no any bitcoin ATMs in Russia at all.
Russian authorities have repeatedly spoken out against the circulation of the bitcoins as it poses threat to the country’s financial stability. The RF Ministry of Finance even prepared amendments to the law which would envisage serious punishments for operations with any cryptocurrency. But in 2016, the Russian Central bank said it would establish a work group to think over the regulation of such currencies.
In any case, no any punishments are envisaged for possessing bitcoins in Russia.