A ‘karaoke’ cash machine which gives users free bitcoin when they sing to it has this week made an appearance in London’s Finsbury Avenue Square.
eToro, the global investment platform with over 10 million registered users, created the “song-activated” ATM in celebration of bitcoin’s 10th anniversary.
The cash machine, which gave away vouchers worth between £20 and £250 in bitcoin, will now pop up in locations across the UK.
“Our ATM machine is a fitting and fun celebration of bitcoin’s 10-year anniversary and the currency, and one that we hope will give even more people the opportunity to learn about crypto,” said Iqbal V. Gandham, UK managing director at eToro.
He added: “Currently, the level of understanding of crypto is one of the barriers to wide-scale user adoption of, and investment in, cryptoassets.
“It’s a barrier that we’ve looked to address at eToro as part of our vision of opening up global markets to everyone.”
The ATM was developed by a specialist team of computer programmers, tech experts and sound engineers.
Using advanced audio and voice technology, the ATM detects when a specific melody is being sung to it, in this instance the song ‘happy birthday’ and the volume of the singing.
A digital display on the ATM lets users know how loudly they are singing, whether they need to increase their volume and how much of the song they need to complete to activate the dispenser.