Kosovars Warned About Using First Bitcoin ATM

Kosovo will soon become the 57th country in the world - and the first in the Balkan region - to operate a virtual money ATM, according to Albvision Ltd, the company that delivered the machine.

In a press release distributed in Kosovo and Albania on July 17, the company said that Tirana and Skopje will be the next two destinations where these kinds of ATMs will be placed. 

According to a statement, the first-ever Bitcoin ATM will be placed in the centre of the Kosovo capital, Pristina.

Its first transactions will be in Bitcoin and then after some time also in ten other so-called crypto-currencies.

But while some are excited by this apparent breakthrough, legal issues suggest the country is far from ready to take full advantage of the use of crypto-currencies. 

Kosovo's Central Bank, KCB, has warned that the use of the virtual "Bitcoin" money entails risks, as the use of virtual currency is still not regulated by law in Kosovo.

"We inform all potential virtual money users that in the Republic of Kosovo there is no institution guaranteeing the reimbursement of money that is lost," a statement from the KCB warned.

In an interview for Top Channel TV, on Wednesday, the head of the Supervision Department of Bank of Albania, Deniz Derralla, said people need to be careful about companies pushing for the use virtual currencies.

"The exchange rate could change very quickly, as it's an unstable currency with no one responsible for it.  Conventional money is emitted by Central banks, while in the case of Bitcoin and other virtual ones, there is no institution that takes responsibilities for them," he said. 

Valmir Hazeri, chief operations officer at Bitsapphire, one of the few companies that works with crypto currency in...