Third of Amsterdam Bitcoin ATMs stolen

Two of the six Bitcoin ATM's in Amsterdam were stolen in the last four weeks. The ATM's were located at the Thai restaurant Warie's Thai Food on Rozengracht in Amsterdam and at cafe ' Hofje van Wijs on Zeedijk, Het Parool reports. The equipment at Warie's Thai Food was worth about 8,700 euros and the device at 't Hofje about 2,600 euros. There is no trace of the perpetrators. The theft was noticed by the website Coin ATM Radar, which keeps track of the location of Bitcoin machines, when the two machines suddenly stopped giving a signal. "We really wanted to keep the news quiet because we were afraid that too much publicity would interfere with the police investigation." said Martin Wismeijer of bitcoin collective Mr. Bitcoin to the newspaper. The perpetrators cannot use the machines as they will be detected the moment they go online. The software is also protected. The theft will not scare Wismeijer away, according to Het Parool. Mr. Bitcoin installed a ATM in the Mediamerkt on Arenboulevard last week. "We will continue to place devices, because they are an important part of the success of bitcoin. They make the currency a little less virtual."