It is not possible to buy/pay something at SBB with bitcoins and a customer needs to provide a mobile phone number/personal ID and is also limited to buy 5000 CHF per year due to anti money laundering rules.
IMHO It's (just) a proof of concept of SBB to launch selling complex 3rd party products (think: platform services) using their ticket machines, not so much about Bitcoin.
Wouldn't there be easier things to sell then instead of bitcoin? Like iTunes credit or pre-paid phone codes? There has to be a reason beyond "look we're a generalized automated point of sale!" to choose bitcoin?
The SBB Ticket machines already sell pre-paid phone top-ups and Paysafecards (cards that can be used for payment in some online shops). So this is really just adding another vendor (SweePay) to this platform.
I suspect that selling iTunes credit or pre-paid phone codes requires adhering to all kinds of rules and agreements set by the corporations (Apple, phone corps). You can't simply build a box and slap iTunes logo on the outside - there's Trademarks involved. Then there's the government regulations and taxes to comply with.
Contrast that with bitcoin - no corporations to deal with, no government rules®ulations and paperwork - all you really need is an Internet connection and and simple digital signatures.
So no - I don't think iTunes or pre-paid phone codes are easier to sell than bitcoin.
There machines all already accept Swiss cash, euros, reka, and all modern electronic payment forms. Adding bitcoin exchange possibilities doesn't seem like such a stretch (it's a software-only change).
But you can't buy tickets (or anything else here) with BC? Buying them has never really been the issue, it's actually using them for something that's difficult.
It will more likely test the appetite for a poor user experience, high spreads and fees and be a conclusion that people don't have much appetite for cryptocurrency
I'd say it fits closely to Swiss values. On international level, bank secrecy is less a thing than it was in the past, but nationally, for Swiss citizens, nobody can know the details of one's bank account. Even the Swiss tax authorities. Also, you can buy and sell gold bars anonymously here (I did it once with 100g bar in my bank — no questions were asked and no papers needed).
yeah you are talking about the concept of bitcoin, I am talking about the concept of putting bitcoin in an antiquated vending machine for buying train tickets (has any one of those EVER impressed you?), one which has a 500 franc daily limit for buying bitcoin (5000 franc yearly limit), and using it to gauge people's interest in bitcoin on a national level
this is an "OOPS" almost as big as when your company spends two hours thinking of a hashtag that nobody will ever use.
> in an antiquated vending machine for buying train tickets (has any one of those EVER impressed you?)
I don't know if you've ever used one but the Swiss ticket machines are nowhere near antiquated. They are all touch screen devices that support contactless payements as well as all the usual payment options and then some (reka cheques?), and offer a (relatively) good UI in at least 4 different languages.
I'd add that the rest of their IT-enabled infrastructure is really good - apps that let you buy electronic tickets for all major mobile plaforms, RFID-enabled travel passes, and up-to-the minute train live tracking.
Compared to every other country I've travelled to they are really advanced. Granted, I've not been to Japan or Singapore, but I've otherwise travelled quite a lot.
The machines are actually very high tech although the UI may not give that impression sometimes. They withstand extreme weather conditions, vandalism and have to secure a large amount of cash. They are built like tanks and anchored deep into the ground.
You are absolutely right, the amount of engineering that went into making them is impressive.
Regarding the UI - despite not looking "high-tech" (no animations at all -not even transitions- simple basic color scheme), I find it very good: I live in a remote village, and grandmas here have no problems using the ticket machine, even for unusual trips.
Of course they usually pay with coins, and that part takes ages ;)
Thats good to know and I'm rooting for it, if history is any indicator it will just turn people off of bitcoin.
Most bitcoin vending machines have a variety of poor user experiences let alone the offered prices and limits. So far all I know about this one is the limit is low.
I'll take basically any USD-denominated bet that says Bitcoin will never be more than 5% of real-world transactions by volume in any country in the world.
You make the typical mistake of looking at current problems and failing to envision solutions. Like people considered early 19th century automobiles ("This will never work! These machines are too noisy. They keep breaking. Roads are not smooth enough. There are no convenient gas stations.").
Humans are good at finding solutions to technical problems. It was already demonstrated a quad core CPU and 8Mbit/s of bandwidth are already sufficient to support scaling to at least 2000 tps. The problem is people don't agree how to allow this to happen (Lightning network, or block size increase, etc). But that too will eventually be resolved :)
The reason you will lose that bet is the "any country". In some less developed countries, inflation is out of control (govt sees money printing as the only solution) bitcoin as measured against their currency is rising. Daily. Couple that with the fact that those same places do ironically have high mobile phone usage, and it's only a matter of time until it's surpassed 5%.
If Bitcoin was 5% of transaction volume it would be an amazing success. Even a 2% (assuming a country with a medium sized economy) would be massively game changing. I believe 2% transaction share is at least possible in the next tens years.
Further information: http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/services/further-servi...
IMHO It's (just) a proof of concept of SBB to launch selling complex 3rd party products (think: platform services) using their ticket machines, not so much about Bitcoin.