GUELPH — Rumours of the impending demise of the Bitcoin digital money system are nonsense, a local proponent of the innovation contends.

"It's alive and well," said Zach Ramsay, a partner with fellow entrepreneur Ethan Buchman in Guelph's Coin Culture, which last May launched its first automated teller machine at Global Currency Services on Gordon Street South.

Ramsay said he's looking to place another such unit in Guelph and would like it to be located downtown.

Global Currency Services founder and owner Carinta Mannarelli said the ATM at her shop appears busy and Coin Culture holds public information sessions there periodically.

"It's in my lobby. There's quite a few people coming in and using it," she said, noting she provides the space for free because she views Bitcoin as complementary to her physical money exchange business.

The feedback on Bitcoin from users has been positive, she added.

Bitcoin, a decentralized virtual currency invented in 2008 and trading through open-source software on peer-to-peer computer systems in unregulated markets, hasn't been without its growing pains here and abroad. These include a plunge in value from about $1,200 Canadian per Bitcoin last year to well under $300 today.

But Ramsay said some media and public have misunderstood that drop, which astute Bitcoin followers see as a buying opportunity as the cost of the cryptocurrency falls.

So it isn't getting closer to demise. "The economic intent is to keep it going," he said, noting that when the price drops "we see an increase in volume." When it's challenged by circumstances, such as a computer hacking scandal abroad, it gets stronger and more robust, he added.

"People see it as a buying opportunity."