Announced in a blog post on March 9th, ether.camp has produced a hybrid Ethereum and Bitcoin ATM. Located in San Mateo California, you will find it offering its services to the Ethereum community looking to convert fiat currency directly to Ether.

Based on the Lamassu Bitcoin ATM, this model has been modified to provide the option of purchasing Ether or Bitcoins. Originally designed and built in Portugal by Lamassu, the software of the Lamassu model ATMs is open-source code, making it straightforward to reprogram for this project.

While traditional Bitcoin ATMs are designed to convert fiat currency into digital Bitcoins, the Ethereum ATM can do that and more. In addition to acting strictly as an ATM to deposit money, future uses of the Ethereum ATM include the ability to interact with smart contracts and other programmable items on the Ethereum block chain. As the blog points out, “imagine you could pay a dollar to buy an unowned tile in Etheria, purchase a dollar-pegged currency or vote for a resolution in a Decentralized Autonomous Organization.”

The Ethereum ATM project has been in the works for “more than 2 years”, says Roman Mandeleil from Ether.camp. This is the first Ethereum ATM, but most certainly is not the last. “You will see more ATMs in terms of 1-2 weeks” says Mandeleil. “We have been approached by several vendors of ATMs and we are going to provide them with some nice support of Ethereum as a currency service and as a smart contract invocation.”

Ether.camp is part of the team building out the infrastructure for the Ethereum project. They designed the Java protocol implementation and are currently working hard on maintaining network transparency. Their site live.ether.camp allows you to see and research any address or transaction in the Ethereum blockchain, and view both transactions or smart contracts. “The unique part of this website is that it provides complete transparency about smart contract transaction execution” says Mandeleil.

As the Ethereum community continues to develop, more decentralized Apps, or DApps, are being built, and new ideas are coming to light. As the Ethereum platform continues its growth, the case for smart contracts are becoming more apparent. Digital tokens can be produced that are associated with any number of possible uses. “Tokens based on game tickets, insurance, gift cards…” are just some of the areas Mandeleil highlighted as use cases where the Ethereum platform and the ATMs could be of value.

You can view the very first Ethereum transaction on the ether.camp smart explorer:

https://live.ether.camp/transaction/0x00601c7ea02aa186d8d67d6d2d

Ether.camp are encouraging those interested in the Ethereum project, as well as their products to reach out to them on their Slack community discussion board, which can be reached by contacting them through their website.