With over 1,000 new merchants adopting Bitcoin every week, it is perhaps not surprising that, as NY Post reports, the first Bitcoin ATM is about to debut in New York City. Following success in Canada and Europe, Brooklyn native Willard Ling, 30, is set to introduce the first bitcoin ATM to New York City at the East Village bubble tea shop 'Just Sweet'. State regulators with the Department of Financial Services are expected to hold hearings later this month to discuss how the digital currency should be regulated; and until then, Ling’s bitcoin ATM will sit in his apartment.

Via NY Post,

Josh Harvey, co-founder of Lamassu, showed off the first bitcoin dispenser at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show and has found quite a bit of interest for the $5,000 machines.

How does the ATM work?

The machine, designed and manufactured in Portugal, looks like a typical deli ATM — but functions more like a vending machine. You put in US dollars and receive bitcoins back on your phone. Users first download a bitcoin wallet mobile app — such as BlockChain or Mycelium — and set a password. A black-and-white QR code appears. They press the phone against the ATM’s glass window so it can scan the code, then feed in cash. Presto, the machine sends bitcoins to the phone.

Coming To New York...

Brooklyn native Willard Ling, 30, is set to introduce the first bitcoin ATM to New York City. After scouting locations, he has chosen the East Village bubble tea shop Just Sweet, on 3rd Avenue and 12th Street. He is now in talks with the owners on a rent deal.

But there are still hurdles...

State regulators with the Department of Financial Services are expected to hold hearings later this month to discuss bitcoin and how it should be regulated. Until rules are drawn up, Ling’s bitcoin ATM will sit in his apartment. He thinks New York should get on with it if it wants to still be considered a center of finance.

We would tend to agree since, as Mike Krieger at Liberty Blitzkrieg notes, over 1,000 new merchants are accepting Bitcoin per week (via BitPay alone)...

Earlier today, the Bitcoin news website Coindesk reported that BitPay is adding 1,000 new merchants per week, within an article highlighting the fact that private jet company PrivateFly had just teamed up with the payment processor to accept BTC for its charter flights.

Just to put this into perspective and understand just how staggering this growth it, BitPay only first surpassed 1,000 total merchants in September 2012 and a total of 10,000 in September 2013. At its current growth rate, the company is set to double the milestone of 10,000 merchants every two and a half months. Incredible.

From Coindesk:

“We believe that merchants are starting to see the value that accepting bitcoin can bring to their business,” said BitPay’s Jan Jahosky. “We’re adding merchants at a pace of 1,000 new merchants per week.” “We expect exponential growth in the popularity of bitcoin around the world with both merchants and consumers, and anticipate seeing the biggest growth in China, India, Russia and South America.”

Full article here.