Cryptocurrency ATM

Inspiration

With the on-going cryptocurrency craze, our team decided we wanted to develop a Cryptocurrency ATM that will be compatible with multiple currencies, specifically the currencies with the top ten largest market caps in the world. Currently, the only way to convert your fiat currency to cryptocurrency is through a few limited exchanges that offer the service. Even so, it may take up to a week for the transaction to occur. Therefore, we wanted to allow a simple USD to crypto exchange that will only take a few minutes for the transaction to take place.

What it does

Our Crypto ATM takes in any USD dollar amount by scanning and verification, and converts it to a cryptocurrency of the user’s choice. After selecting a cryptocurrency, the user will provide an online Crypto Wallet address they want for the currency to be sent to and stored.

How I built it

We used Electron to create a desktop application, where the user will be asked to show their desired dollar amount for purchase and Crypto Wallet QR code to our application's webcam. We attached a tablet screen with our application on a cardboard box, and next to a the screen a slot to put in the desired dollar amount.

Challenges I ran into

A few challenges we ran into were finding appropriate APIs for scanning various dollar amounts, and how we were going to build the physical ATM in under 24 hours with limited materials.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The major accomplishment that we are most proud is overall having a very simplistic ATM process the user has to go through for converting any dollar amount. Online crypto exchanges can take up to a week for sending dollar amounts from bank accounts for making purchases, and our process takes 2-3 minutes while having the flexibility to purchase up to 10 different cyrptocoins with the largest market caps.

What I learned

On the technical side, we all learned how to properly utilize online open source resources and APIs. In a broader sense, this experience has truly taught us a lesson in time management and task delegation and also strengthening our knowledge on cryptocurrencies in general.

What's next for Cryptocurrency ATM

In the future we are planning to implement a receipt system in our ATM for users that do not have a online crypto wallet. Users will get a receipt with the currency amount and appropriate QR code, as well as polishing the overall design of the ATM.