Since the digital currency's mysterious creation in 2008, buying and selling has been handled largely by online exchanges, which Gruzowski says are too complicated for everyday users. "Here we have it in a Westfield shopping centre where it's available immediately and securely for everyone," he said. "We want to allow every Australian to easily buy and sell bitcoin." Users can register an account on the ATM in about five minutes. The machine scans their government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's licence, and uses facial recognition technology to verify that their face matches the photo. Users also scan their palm on the machine, which is used along with a PIN and their phone number to verify their identity in future transactions.

Once an account is set up, users can buy or sell bitcoin at the market price. They can add bitcoin to their virtual wallet by feeding in cash or cards, and can sell bitcoins to extract cash. ABA Technologies makes money in a similar way to a foreign exchange, by buying and selling at different amounts and claiming the difference. All transactions are secured by SSL cryptography and are immune to the recent Heartbleed bug that is wreaking havoc on the internet, Gruzowski said. The ATM was bought from Robocoin, the US firm credited with providing the world's first bitcoin ATM, which appeared in a Vancouver cafe in October. It will be the 11th Robocoin ATM to launch worldwide, said the company's spokesman Sam Glaser.

He declined to disclose how many transactions the ATMs average per day, but said "even the slowest" was on track to handle more than $US1 million in transactions in its first year. The launch comes as National Australia Bank said last week it would close the accounts of vendors involved in bitcoin trade by early May. In letters to clients effected by the move, NAB said it viewed digital currencies as too risky to its business and reputation. But Gruzowski said he was unfazed by NAB's decision. "We're very confident that they'll see the prospect of this technology, and we really want to work with them to grow."

Experts are less convinced. Professor David Glance, the head of software practice at the University of Western Australia, said the NAB move was a big blow. "It makes it clear that the major institutions have no desire to make digital currencies work," he said. "This is a really bad time to be launching devices like this." The addition of biometric steps such as face and palm scanning also risked turning people off by stripping away much-coveted anonymity and making the machines "harder to use than normal ATMs".

"At present, there is not a compelling reason to be involved in cryptocurrencies other than investment reasons and for those people with the appetite for risk, they are likely to be buying their currency online." Nevertheless, Gruzowski said bitcoin has massive potential, particularly for online shopping and cheap, quick cross-border money transfers. ABA (Australian Bitcoin ATMS) Technologies recently acquired a fellow bitcoin vendor, Krypto Currency Solutions, and has ordered several machines from RoboCoin and three other vendors with plans to release the next in Melbourne in the near future. AAP