Punta del Este to have first cryptocurrency ATM in Uruguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to sources from local companies inBierto and Urubit, in charge of production, the UTM ATM will start operating the Uruguayan cryptocurrencies Urubit and Ferret Token.

Later, users will be able to convert these “tokens” (vouchers) to other cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, ethereum or tether. In addition, they will be able to sell their cryptos and receive money at market value.

“First of all, this is going to fulfill something that many people linked to the crypto world have been asking for. Today Uruguay has over 30,000 people counting, ‘logging’ and exchanging cryptocurrencies almost every day,” said InBierto director and founder Adolfo Varela.

He also said that the plan is to continue expanding to Montevideo, the rest of Uruguay and the continent.

“We believe that America is the ideal continent to implement the use of cryptocurrency blockchain technology because currencies have their own economic policies, which are deflationary, which protect people’s money and what a continent that knows so much about inflation can achieve is to allow people to save and take care of their money,” Varela points out.

Finally, he emphasizes the “exponential growth” this issue has experienced lately in Uruguay, where people “began to talk about it, became interested and got involved.”

“We believe that a path toward the future of finance, technology, information and value began to be taken that is going to change the way we all live, because everything is going to happen through blockchain technology,” Varela adds.

Uruguay does not have a “specific regulation” on “virtual assets,” as the Central Bank (BCU) recalled last October 1 in a statement.

“These instruments may have the potential to contribute to the development and efficiency of the financial and payment system, but may generate new risks or exacerbate existing ones, in the absence of specific regulation to mitigate them,” the text explained.

The BCU then alerted that “these instruments do not constitute legal tender” and that “they were not issued and are not backed by any central bank.”