Originally posted – August 28th 2014 – Read our updated review from May 2015 here.
So the other day I was looking to buy some bitcoins, and had a very difficult time trying to purchase a small amount of bitcoin with normal consumer payment methods.
So giving up on that, I had heard that the guys in GSM Solutions on Upper Abbey Street (between Jervis St and Four Courts Luas stops) sold Bitcoin. They have a Bitcoin ATM there, but for speed (and because I have a PC wallet and didn’t want to have to install a mobile wallet) I opted to go for generate bitcoins from their till, just like phone credit.
I asked if there was a minimum, and they responded that any amount over €5 was grand. So I decided how much I wanted to buy, and had €30 on me so got that. In about a half a minute, they had printed off my bitcoins voucher. When I got home, I just had to visit the URL on the reciept and enter in my code and where I wanted the bitcoins sent. Immediately, my Bitcoin Armory wallet flashed up that a payment for the amount was received, and began confirming it.
Looking at the value I got, the amount I paid was €30 which included 13.5% VAT. For this I received 0.07712 btc, which means that inclusive of VAT, the rate I got was €389/bitcoin, and exclusive of VAT the mount I bought was €26.43, giving a rate of €342.71/bitcoin, which was pretty bang on the days normal euro rate over on btc-e.com .
So in review I found the process of buying bitcoins with cash very straightforward, much quicker, and less hassle than I expected. I’ll go back soon to try buying bitcoin using their ATM option
You can read all our articles about Irish Bitcoin ATMs to find one near you that's available to use.
We are often asked what's the handiest way to buy crypto in Ireland. You can get some first trade bonuses with Coinbase ($10 when you purchase your first $100). You can also buy mainstream crypto's with cards on CEX or Binance have one of the widest ranges of crypto's and tokens. Alternatively if you want to trade peer-to-peer, you can find a local broker on LocalCoinSwap. If you're not on , they now allow you to earn a few euros worth of crypto through their Earn section, and now let you withdraw crypto purchased on the platform to an external wallet (you still can't send it to the platform though)
