Bitcoin ATM for cash-starved Cyprus?
Woman uses ATM machine in Bank Of Cyprus in Nicosia. The Cypriot banking crisis has sparked interest in the digital currency Bitcoin. There is even talk of Bitcoin’s first ATM opening in Cyprus.
Desperate times call for unusual measures.
As the Cypriot economy runs out of cash, one currency is getting a big boost: Bitcoin.
The digital currency's value has jumped up to $72 because of the European financial crisis, particularly the events in Cyprus.
The currency was worth just $40 one week ago.
"The best-performing currency year-to-date has no home country, no central banker and no physical scrip," Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group told ABC News.
There has even been talk of opening Bitcoin's first ATM machine in Cyprus.
More from GlobalPost: What in the world wide web is a Bitcoin?
(Seems an odd choice considering the alternative form of currency is famous for being a strictly digital one.)
Jeff Berwick, the founder of Stockhouse.com said that his company was creating a Bitcoin ATM.
He hopes to launch it in Cyprus.
In his press release Berwick said, "I am convinced bitcoin will be the currency of the future… and all the attacks on it by governments and central banks shows they know it."