Bitcoin ATM planned for Auckland

According to CoinDesk's index yesterday, Bitcoin was trading for close to US$850. Photo / AP

An Australian company is planning to set up a Bitcoin ATM in Auckland.

ATMs letting users buy and sell the digital currency for cash have cropped up around the world in recent months since the first was installed in Vancouver last November.

Bitcoin is a form of exchange detached from any country, government or physical commodity. Its users are their own bank, with Bitcoins stored in and transferred between encrypted digital wallets.

Last week a company called Australian Bitcoin ATMs said they secured the purchase of 100 machines and hoped to begin installing them that side of the Tasman this month.

A spokeswoman for the company told the Herald this afternoon there were also plans to install a machine in Auckland once Bitcoin ATMs were set up in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The company expects to be operating in this country by the second quarter of this year, she said.

One of the shareholders involved with Australian Bitcoin ATMs is Jamie McIntyre, a financial educator and author who has also launched an Australian political party.

McIntyre's past business dealings have included a wrangle with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the corporate regulator across the Tasman.

ASIC discontinued a set of proceedings against McIntyre in 2007.