Home topics finance finance-cash-flow Cashflow News Retail Cashflow Bitcoin’s double-edged sword Joe Kelly April 15, 2014 Bitcoin is going mainstream. And soon it could be available an ATM near you, providing consumers with greater accessibility to the mysterious world of crypto-currencies. Some smaller retailers are enthusiastically hitching their wagon to the growing popularity of Bitcoin and adopting platforms allowing them to accept the currency as payment. However, other observers are warning the benefits of trading in Bitcoin are limited and even pose risks for small business owners. The inaugural Bitcoin ATM was unveiled today inside the Pitt Street mall in the heart of the Sydney CBD allowing street-shoppers to buy and sell the currency for the first time. The orange machine looks just like a normal ATM and is being rolled out by ABA Technology which has aspirations to introduce 100 such machines in Australia by the end of 2015 and 500 across the globe by the end of 2016. The young chief executive of the company, Chris Guzowski, said he believed Bitcoin would continue to grow in popularity and would provide small business, particularly those with low margins, greater flexibility. “One of the main benefits is cost saving,” he told Dynamic Business . “At the moment when you accept credit cards, you are charged a fee of 2 per cent, maybe more. “Bitcoin is essentially free… some service providers will charge a fee. But it is low because the technology is so competitive. So it is cheaper for a