Hawke’s Bay’s first Bitcoin ATM ‘performing well’, more on the way

Manna Family Mart owner Binu Thomas next to the region's only Bitcoin ATM. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine

Hawke’s Bay’s first Bitcoin ATM is proving popular despite plenty of curious customers still asking “what is this machine?”.

Napier’s Manna Family Mart on Marine Parade hosts the region’s only Bitcoin ATM machine.

Coinflip, which owns the machine, says it is “performing well” and the company has plans to open another three across Hawke’s Bay by mid-2025.

Coinflip (formerly Olliv) has 120 Bitcoin ATMs across the country and thousands more in operation around the world.

Manna Family Mart owner Binu Thomas said he was happy to host one of the machines, given Bitcoin’s growing popularity.

He said the machine was installed in the shop earlier this year and between five and 10 people used it each day, on average.

“People are quite interested when they see it, they ask ‘what is this machine?’.”

He said since the US election, there appeared to be more interest in the cryptocurrency as the price had surged.

Coinflip Australia and NZ vice president Ben Brockliss said they were looking for more shops in the region to host a machine.

He said they would pay $300 per month in rent for a business in a good location to host one of their ATMs.

“We will be dropping another one hopefully soon. The Napier one is performing well,” he said.

“We will probably end up with four [in Hawke’s Bay] by the first half of next year.”

A Bitcoin ATM machine is in operation in Napier. Photo / NZME

Napier’s ATM machine allows people to buy Bitcoin using cash, or to sell Bitcoin and receive cash.

Brockliss said some of their ATM machines were only set up to buy Bitcoin.

“[They] work with any third-party wallet [for cryptocurrency].”

Hastings briefly had a Bitcoin ATM this year but that store closed.

Coinflip is a US company based in Chicago.

Coinflip opened its first Bitcoin ATM in New Zealand last year in Auckland, and is not the first provider to come to the country. It has over 5000 kiosks around the globe.

Businesses wanting to host a machine can inquire through the Coinflip website.

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.