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Comment by derekp7 | Hacker News Reader

I've never seen a case where an card wouldn't work in another bank's automated ATM machine. I know this used to be the case, but there are a bunch of logos on the back of my card, and a bunch of logos on various ATMs, and as long as there is an intersection of at least on of those logos it should work.

And there is a big difference between giving basic proof of ID information to a regulated financial institution, vs. handing it over to an unknown entity.

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The comment was a parody of the post, showing how you go through much the same process to use a cash ATM the first time -- establishing an account, providing ID, having your account approved, etc. As for your last sentence, Bitcoin exchanges are regulated financial institutions, they don't have the choice of not collecting identification even if they're unknown to you. Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) policies are not optional for money transmitters.

Yeah the cool thing about real ATMs is they're all connected up through the national/international transfer networks, and it Just Works. I've withdrawn from ATMs with the same card on three different continents (with only the fear that someone might have put a skimmer on the card slot, but given recorded history I'd rather take my chances with that than with anything bitcoin)

Just FYI: ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine, so your sentence expands to "automated automated teller machine machine" :)

I know -- that's why I threw automated at the beginning (inside joke). But adding "machine" at the end seems to happen a lot (and feels natural) when an acronym transitions to a stand-alone name. I wonder if there is a name for this phenomenon?

It is called RAS syndrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome

Don't even get me started on "PIN number".

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