The Perfect Bitcoin ATM for Food Trucks and Festivals

Offline and off-the-grid: What if you could operate a Bitcoin ATM without any dependence on WiFi or electricity? Take it out of a box, connect a 12V DC battery, and it’s ready to sell bitcoin. This is possible with the Bleskomat Bitcoin Lightning ATM – the world’s first offline Bitcoin ATM. It doesn’t need an internet connection. And with a 12V DC battery, it doesn’t need to be connected to external electricity either.

Due to its low power consumption, it is possible to operate the Bleskomat ATM for hours on a cheap, rechargeable lead acid battery. And these batteries can be small enough to fit comfortably inside the ATM’s metal case.

How Can It Work Offline?

This is an often confusing point for those who are already familiar with Bitcoin ATMs. The existing legacy ATMs rely on an active internet connection either through an ethernet cable or WiFi. This creates a failure point that very often renders the machine unable to perform its primary function – facilitate the exchange of bitcoin. The Bleskomat ATM removes this failure point completely.

The vast majority of customers who use a Bitcoin ATM are using a mobile wallet app to receive their new bitcoin. Their phone has a reliable internet connection which can be used to communicate directly with a server on behalf of the ATM. Cryptographic signatures are used to ensure that the customer’s app hasn’t tampered with the currency and amount contained within the QR code.

User experience flow for the Bleskomat “Coins” ATM

The above flow diagram illustrates the customer experience when using a Bleskomat ATM. It assumes fiat coins are used but this same flow applies for fiat bank notes as well.

The inverse flow is also possible – where a customer sells their bitcoin to an offline Bitcoin ATM – but this is not supported by our current ATM models. If you’re very interested in this capability, please reach out to us directly.

Backend Server + Lightning Node

The backend server mentioned above can be either the Bleskomat Platform or your own self-hosted instance of the open-source bleskomat-server software or lnbits.

The Lightning Node can be either your own self-hosted node or an account with a custodial Lightning Network service provider (LSP). The Bleskomat Platform and bleskomat-server software are compatible with Lightning Network Daemon (LND), Core Lightning, as well as several different LSPs.