The Bitcoin ecosystem suffers from so many issues right now, it has almost become impossible to keep track of them all. Slow transactions, high fees, and no proper scaling solution in sight all make for a pretty dismal experience. Things have gotten so bad, some ATM operators have had to increase their machines’ minimum purchase requirement. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s far from an ideal situation.
BitcoinPlug Raises Minimum First Note for BTC Purchases
Buying Bitcoin from a cryptocurrency ATM has always been a good option to have. More specifically, it is a convenient way of converting cash to Bitcoin regardless of whether you desire a small or a large amount. Although every Bitcoin ATM has purchasing limits, they usually only apply to the amount of money one can spend over 24 hours. They hardly ever affect the minimum value of a purchase at such an ATM.
That is all changing for BitcoinPlug, unfortunately. Although the company would rather not make any drastic changes, it is forced to adapt to the challenges plaguing the Bitcoin network these days. More specifically, the mounting transaction fees make it unfeasible for this company to let users purchase amounts of Bitcoin worth less than US$50. Otherwise, it would risk paying as much as 50% extra just to cover the transaction fees, which is not acceptable.
The company has been pretty vocal about the “eroding utility of Bitcoin” over the past few weeks. It is also the main reason why BitcoinPlug enabled Bitcoin Cash support for its ATMs, as this currency offers much lower fees and faster transactions. Moreover, the company has no plans to change the minimum purchase amount of BCH either, as users can still buy US$1 worth of BCH without paying obnoxious fees. It’s an interesting situation, although it remains to be seen how all of this will play out in the long run.
Due to increased mining fees our minimum first note for a #BTC purchase is now $50. The utility of #bitcoincore is eroding at a high rate.
We support #bitcoincash. You can still buy as little as $1 of #BCH, as it should be. #bitcoin
— BitcoinPlug (@bitcoinplugatm) December 18, 2017
Whether or not we will see other Bitcoin ATM operators follow this example in the coming weeks and months remains to be determined. It is never fun when companies won’t let their own customers purchase small amounts of crypto because the fees are too high to allow such purchases. Unfortunately for Bitcoin enthusiasts, these transaction costs have been mounting for quite some time now, and it doesn’t seem as if things will be improving anytime soon.
Moreover, it is possible that BitcoinPlug will reverse this decision if Bitcoin’s transaction fees come down in the future. That seems highly unlikely right now, but we can assume the Bitcoin network will undergo some big changes in the coming months to address this problem. Until then, the minimum BTC purchase amount at any BitcoinPlug ATM will remain fixed at US$50. That is, assuming the transaction fees don’t go up any further by then, which is still a possibility.
Surprisingly, it appears the Bitcoin community isn’t responding in a negative manner to this development. A lot of Bitcoin enthusiasts seemingly haven’t noticed or simply don’t care. The Bitcoin Cash community is having a lot of fun at the expense of Bitcoin, although it is difficult to blame them for such behavior. BitcoinPlug has been very vocal about these problems, yet it has also come up with solutions for its customers. The new change may not be a popular decision, but it is an absolute necessity.
