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I bought bitcoin at a deli - here's how it works

Frank ChaparroSep 23, 2017, 20:04 IST

Frank Chaparro

At first glance, Mario's Gourmet Deli, a New York City bodega on the corner of West 106th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, looks like a regular corner store.

But inside there's an ATM that gives folks access to what some view as the future of payments and finance: bitcoin.

The recently installed ATM was featured in a New Yorker piece by Ian Parker, who described it as a "machine with the body of a regular ATM but the soul of a lottery terminal."

I paid the deli a visit to buy some bitcoin, the digital coin that's up over 400% this year. Here's what it was like. (Please excuse my poor photography skills.)