Russia’s Oldest Bank Buys Blockchain ATMs That Can Mine Cryptocurrency

Russia’s oldest and biggest bank, Sberba, is spending over $100 million to acquire around 4,917 ATMs that are capable of mining cryptocurrency. In a report by Cointelegraph, Sberba has called for ATMs with a built-in graphic card that can support blockchain-based operations. Experts agree that this type of graphic card is mainly used to mine cryptocurrency.

While Bitcoin ATMs are not new, ATMs with graphic cards capable of mining crypto is very unusual. Sberba has called for tenders to provide their new blockchain ATMs, with a maximum bid of $108,501,718.05 (or $22,066.65 per ATM).

As expected, this move raised a lot of speculations. First of all, if it is going to be used to mine crypto, why? Will Sberbank issue its own cryptocurrency, or will the Russian government use the network to distribute a cryptorouble? Aside from that, there are other speculations such as:

1. Using blockchain to secure ATM information.

Matyev Voytov, marketing head of Waves Enterprise, believes that blockchain technology would be used to record or store customer transactions on these ATMs. Although a graphic card that supports blockchain is mainly used for mining, he thinks that it is highly unlikely for Sberba to introduce its own cryptocurrency.

2. For Mining Altcoins?

Alexander Cherpunoy, the co-founder of Ergo, thinks that it could also be used to process cryptographic algorithms but he is not sure why an ATM would need it. Cherpunoy also adds that the card is not capable of mining Bitcoin, but it could mine Altcoin.

3. An error in description.

Voytov also thinks that the description of the tender document might have just been an error. This could mean that the bank has no intention to mine cryptocurrency at all.

Despite these speculations, many are anticipating that an ATM network could become part of an enormous cryptocurrency network. Well, it seems like what we can all do now is to just wait and see.