The HandleBar tavern in Austin, Texas will be home to the first Bitcoin ATM in the US, TechCrunch reported.

Robocoin, the company which owns Bitcoin ATMs in Vancouver, Canada, will be opening the first Bitcoin ATM in the US on Thursday, February 20 at two o'clock in the afternoon. Just like any other ATM, users simply just go to the ATM, put cash in and get the corresponding bitcoin. Owners of the digital currency will also be able to sell through the ATM. As proof of their transaction, the machine will issue a receipt and credit the BTC amount to their virtual wallets, the report said.

Texas is just the first. The report quoted Robocoin Founder Jordan Kelly as saying, "Robocoin will be EVERYWHERE! We've just arrived in Texas and have already shipped to Seattle, Washington and Alberta, Canada. Austin's Robocoin is going to a really cool location downtown at the HandleBar. We have a bunch more shipping to amazing locations in Canada. We're also still moving forward with Hong Kong, but we underestimated how long the international hardware certification process would take."

Kelley added that bitcoin owners can sell the digital money if they use a government ID and biometric data required by the ATM's enrollment system. He said this provides "Robocoin Operators full customer visibility, trackability and reporting tools to support global compliance," TechCrunch reported.

"Bank-grade" hardware and network security are used to build the ATMs, with the computer placed inside a safe together with the cash. The machine's ATMs cannot also be accessed online, the report said.

Business owners who want to have a Robocoin ATM in their outlets will need to secure an official Money Transmitter License or MTL or register as a Money Service Business or MSB. He told TechCrunch, "Now we're building a global infrastructure of passionate and dedicated Robocoin operators who are all fully aligned with the mission of making bitcoin safe and accessible to the masses. Robocoin is completely removing bitcoin's barriers to entry and helping bring bitcoin into the real world."