Coinstar does not charge people 9% for changing USD -> USD, but they rather automate the process of converting large amounts of coins into a "format" that is spendable, as most banks will not accept large amounts of change/coin that is not "wrapped" by denomination.
The fact that a coinstar machine is expensive to produce as this kind of technology is not cheap (to count and sort coins deposited in mass) and needs to be audit-able will make it less likely that there will be a machine that converts change into bitcoin. Any operator would need to cover the costs of the machine plus some margin in converting their fiat into bitcoin
The fact that a coinstar machine is expensive to produce as this kind of technology is not cheap (to count and sort coins deposited in mass) and needs to be audit-able will make it less likely that there will be a machine that converts change into bitcoin. Any operator would need to cover the costs of the machine plus some margin in converting their fiat into bitcoin
Right - they charge people 9.8% for the service of converting loose change into a more spendable form of fiat. However - you may also choose to convert to an Amazon or ITunes gift card as well as other options for ZERO fee (presumably in this case Amazon/Apple etc are paying CoinStar a somewhat reduced fee based on volume.) So why couldn't Coinbase or Circle or?
do the same thing? Now - you might be talking paying a 15% or so premium by the time you get the btc - something akin to going the Paypal to Virwox to btc route, but we're again talking about small amounts of btc for the loose change sitting in a jar or on your bedroom floor right now.Anyway - I'm interested to see both the interest and the level of negativity that various users have about this. Glad to at least inspire a bit of conversation at least
Another twist to your idea would be to open a BTC ATM near a coinstar machine that accepts both cash and a coinstar voucher (only vouchers from the neighboring machine). The ATM could validate and process the voucher instantly (and the ATM operator would likely have some kind of agreement with the operator of the coinstar machine