Virginia community bank inks partnerships to enable Bitcoin purchases at its ATMs

A community bank in Virginia is now offering bitcoin purchases and redemptions as an option at its automatic teller machines (ATMs), according to the Virginia-based newspaper the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

Cryptocurrency ATMs have been in the United States since 2013. But Blue Ridge Bank, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, appears to be the first U.S.-based community bank to let users obtain and redeem bitcoin from their ATMs. 

Blue Ridge Bank offered crypto ATM services after noticing the high demand for bitcoin. “We try to be forward-looking with what we are doing and anticipate our customers' needs — both present and future customers," Blue Ridge Banks CEO Brian Plum told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

To offer crypto services, which started last week, Blue Ridge partnered with BluePoint ATM Solutions, a national ATM operator based in Woodstock, Virginia and Boston-based Bitcoin ATM software firm LibertyX. 

Users must have the LibertyX phone app and digital wallet in order to purchase Bitcoin from Blue Ridge. But anyone — not just Blue Ridge Bank customers — can obtain Bitcoin from the bank’s machines. According to the Times-Dispatch, the service allows customers to redeem bitcoin for U.S. dollars as well.