NRCC Member in Spotlight - Bitcoin Romania

Mon | 14.09.2020

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The Future Is Bright. Everybody knows Bitcoin as a crypto currency. People use it or they don’t. The ones that do, use online platforms to trade (buy/sell).

So far nothing new.  But there is something interesting going on in Romania within the cryptocurrency landscape. And the people from Bitcoin Romania are causing it.
Therefore, time to catch up with Constantin Rotariu, founder of Bitcoin Romania (BTR). He is about to tell us something that we don’t know; namely that you can make Money with Bitcoin Romania (BTR).  So not with the Bitcoin itself, but with the company! We are all ears!

 

Don’t let us in suspense, what is it you have to share?
Its correct what you say in your intro, we as Bitcoin Romania facilitate trade in Crypto Currency, of which Bitcoins are amongst them, and probably the most well-known. Because we (BTR) facilitate trade, we take commissions on trade through our platform. Traditionally this has been an online experience, right up to the point where the digital money is sold for real tangible money.
And this is what most people know and see: online currency.

 

And now there is more?
Yes. We have placed in Romania since a few years ATM machines. Because these ATM machines are connected to our online trading platform, people can buy and sell any crypto currency. So not just Bitcoins. Selling cryptocurrency here refers to the traditional “taking the money out of the machine” And because there are two processes possible, buying and selling, there is twice a commission to be made. We have seen that the 15 Bitcoin ATMs that we have deployed on the market, combined process over 4 million transactions per year. And this amounts to a large amount of money that commissions are made trough. We aim to have before the end of 2020 to have over 100 Bitcoin ATMs across Romania.

 

That is a bold target. How will you achieve that?
We offer partnerships. Currently we have 5 machines operated by partners. This is very profitable for the partners, as we record up to 4000 EURO net profit per ATM per month. Yet their investment and efforts are minimal. They pay a one-time partnership fee of 4500 EURO. On top of that they pay 5000 EURO deposit for the ATM machine. And they need to front 10.000 EURO for the first fill of the machine (there needs to be money in the machine in order to be operational). But both the Deposit and the First Fill are returned (paid back) by BTR at the end of the partnership. Then the partner takes care of maintenance and repair of machine (around 50 euro per month), and each time the machine is running low on money, we notify the partner. Then we sent to the partner, through his bank account the money for refilling the machine. Which the partner then uses to fill his ATM.
It’s quite simple.

 

These are very interesting numbers, as a minimal investment can be paid off in about 3-4 months. Any figures on the amount of users? And where can we find these Bitcoin users in Romania.
The 15 ATM machines serve at the moment 25.000 people. But trough our platform we register by far a multitude of users, and they come from all over Romania. The ATMs are relatively new business, and serve also as a marketing: more ATMs available and visible, leads to more users. And it serves as constant reminder for people: Bitcoin is also present in the offline world. Its tangible.

 

Currently the ATMs are placed where? Bucharest only?
Bucharest is a large portion of the physical market, but don’t forget, selling one Bitcoin currently brings you around 12.000 EURO. Our best performing ATMs are actually placed outside Bucharest, in Constanta and Galati to be exact. That is also what we aim for, a large spread of Bitcoin ATM Machines. The thing is that there is this whole marked that is virtually untouched. Everybody finds it normal that you can take money from banco-mats everywhere at any time. But there are new ways of paying, there are new currencies. And that market, is neglected by the traditional banks and their banco-mats. So we as BTR provide this solution, for this particular and fast growing market. And because we are BTR we do things our way: through partnerships.

 

NRCC: What qualifies as a “Partner”?
Well a partner has a business entity with a business bank account. This is because we have to sent money for the filling of the machines. So a private person can-not be a partner. Our current partners have themselves a location (for example gas station) to place the machine. But a machine can be placed anywhere. We just try to make sure that all Bitcoin ATM machines are at locations that have parking places. This because we not do not have yet the coverage/availability that you can just walk to the next machine when one is for empty (no cash).

 

So what is the next step a possible partner should take?
They can contact us directly via email (partners@bitcoinromania.ro) or they can ask the NRCC Team to put us in contact.

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