MashBlur

Ukraine will soon have 150 new ATMs for both buying and selling cryptocurrencies, with around 30 of the machines slated to open by the end of August, The Kiyv Post has learned from Mike Chobanyan, head of the Bitcoin agency in Ukraine.

The devices will allow both selling and buying hryvnias, the national currency, and a variety of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoins, Ethereum (or Ether), Waves, and Golos.

Ukrainian entrepreneurs want to install the ATMs because of the troubled situation with the Ukrainian banking system, which generates problems for businesses, Chobanyan told The Kyiv Post. Using cryptocurrencies allows businesses to bypass the traditional banking sector, he said, declining to reveal the names of the machine buyers.

Chobanyan himself brought the first Ukrainian cryptocurrency ATM to Odessa, a city in southern Ukraine, in April 2017. This device allows users to withdraw amounts of at least 500 hryvnias or 0.1 Bitcoin, around $20 at the current exchange rate.

Bitcoin began being accepted by pioneering Ukrainian merchants as early as 2014.