‘Mainly used by geeks’

AT Dhiensa Food Store, a corner shop in Derby, ATM customers yesterday included a man who had travelled from Nottingham and another, in his 20s, who bought three bitcoin last year for around £350 – they are now worth more than £24,000.

The ATM is the only one in the East Midlands. Owner Harbans Singh Dhiensa said people from all over the region visited to use it, with on average four customers a day.

His son, who did not want to be named, said it was wrong to say the machines are used only by drug dealers and criminals. ‘I would say it is mainly geeks,’ he said, adding that there were precautions to stop money laundering.