Milwaukee Cryptocurrency, Digital Assets and Crypto Kiosks

Cryptocurrency in Milwaukee is spent in stores with debit cards, used online for purchasing movie tickets, bought with USD cash through third parties at CVS Pharmacy and traded at kiosks in suburban shopping malls. Cryptocurrency put financial control in the hands of individuals instead of banks, lenders and government.

Organizations like Coinbase and Blockfi are cryptocurrency exchanges that allowed users to spend a variety of cryptocurrency where VISA cards were accepted. This was made possible using a normal chip-style debit card that spends crypto holdings right from digital wallets as USD cash. Crypto debit card users also earned rewards for spending, such as 4% returns in a selected cryptocurrency.

AMC movie theaters in Wauwatosa, Wis., which also has 950 theater locations with more than 10,500 movie screens in the United States and Europe, started accepting cryptocurrency for online ticket sales in Aug. of 2021. Adam Aron, AMC’s CEO announced the news in a press release and on Twitter.

“We proudly now accept: drumroll, please… Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin.” Aron said. “Dogecoin next.”

Big newsflash! As promised, many new ways NOW to pay online at AMC.  We proudly now accept: drumroll, please… Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin. Also Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal. Incredibly, they already account for 14% of our total online transactions! Dogecoin next. pic.twitter.com/a7pqYBm7HB

— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) November 12, 2021

AMC started accepting 12 different cryptocurrencies in 2022, through 95 different digital wallets, by using Bitpay. They even accepted Dogecoin, the meme coin that was created to make fun of the Shiba Inu token.

Cryptodispensers is an organization that is committed to selling and trading digital currency. They allowed users to set up cryptocurrency purchases in a digital wallet, then with a smartphone, show a barcode at any CVS Pharmacy, and a cashier completed the crypto purchase.

“Third parties allow for customers to convert a cash purchase to Bitcoin,” Amy Thibault said, CVS Pharmacy’s lead director of external communications. “It’s not bought or sold directly though CVS. We continue to address consumer payment in retail, offering our customers options to meet their needs.”

CVS Health applied for trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Feb. 28, 2022, and secured patents for virtual products, digital media and digital art, such as nonfungible tokens (NFT), for use in Web 3.0 Metaverse environments.

“Online retail services featuring virtual goods, namely, featuring a variety of consumer goods, prescription drugs, health, wellness, beauty and personal care products and general merchandise,” CVS Health listed in patent filling. “For use online and in online virtual words.”

Cryptodispensers also installed more than 60 Bitcoin self-serve kiosks in shopping malls in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. These kiosks, like the one at Southridge Mall in Greendale, Wis., gave customers convenient access points to turn cash into crypto.

Marko Knezic, from Cream City Crypto, an organization committed to clear up misconceptions about cryptocurrency, explained that he liked to keep informed because cryptocurrency is integrated into society. Knezic said that it was best if people got information that was useful to them, and that they did not get overwhelmed with technical information.

“I just think people should know what this is,” Knezic said. “Because I just think it’s inevitable.”

Cryptocurrency can be transferred from one holder to another without any major financial institutions, governments or corporations acting in the middle. Once a transaction is done, it cannot be undone.

“Picture something like Venmo, but it works everywhere,” Knezic said. “No one can stop you from using it or take the money from you.”

The same technology used to manage cryptocurrency is also used for of digital assets, like NFTs, which are digital representations of unique items that can be transferred between individuals or organizations.

“It’s really a piece of code that can verify authenticity and ownership of anything,” Knezic said. “How much or our lives are digitized, like IOT (Internet of Things), so anything, any document you have, you probably have a digital version of it.”

The same technology can be used to transfer and track ownership of physical assets, like healthcare equipment, property deeds and even car titles.

“Selling these things can be as easy as me just transferring it to you,” Knezic said. “Without having to go through all the intermediaries, whether it’s paying a realtor or paying licensing fees.”

Asset ownership can be fractionalized, where one asset is owned by more than one owner, and the asset ownership splits into any number. Wealth generated or lost is distributed at the same rate to all owners.

“The spirit of it is to democratize everything,” Knezic said. “Ownership, control and access.”

Blockchain is a permanent digital list of transactions that has many potential use cases, such as managing communications, healthcare records and video games. Documented transactions are secure and cannot be undone.

Blockchain transactions are transparent, which means they are available for anyone to observe using advanced software, or simple web-based technology like BlockCypher.

A fundamental aspect of blockchain’s cryptographic nature is that transactions are encrypted, and each transaction built another block on the chain, or list of transactions.

Transactions made on the blockchain are more secure than using a bank card, or a credit card. Services rendered by financial institution’s credit cards or paper checks leave people open to identity attacks or radio-frequency-identification (RFID) skimmers.

When a currency transaction is made using blockchain technology, there is less risk to personal information and the currency holdings connected to the individual.

When a credit card, check or a bank card is used, the identifying numbers remain unchanged. The name on the account is used with the same secret numbers or an RFID signature every time. A credit card or bank routing and account number can be written down and reused, and an RFID signal can be scanned and duplicated.

On the blockchain, each transaction gets a long alphanumeric code that is usually 64 characters. That number is used once and then archived on the blockchain. The recorded transaction cannot be undone, duplicated or hidden from view.

A United States Executive Order to Protect Personal Information

Blockchain transactions are public, but there was still concern over personal information collected to create digital wallets. The United States government appeared to show interest with some suggestions for new standards.

An executive order, which targeted digital asset development and emphasized the personal information and data exposure risk potential with cryptocurrency ledgers, was signed by President Joe Biden on Mar. 9, 2022.

The executive order was new territory for U.S. government, and it set forth a timeline to put recommendations in place that would guide digital asset exchanges on how to keep user data secure, how to assess systemic cyber security risks and acknowledge the fast-growing status of cryptocurrency and digital assets.

“We must protect consumers, investors, and businesses in the United States,” Biden said in the executive order. “The unique and varied features of digital assets can pose significant financial risks.”

Cyber security issues like database hacks and data leaks have put personal information and metadata on the hard drives of criminals. The executive order described a framework to protect the personal information of individuals that used decentralized exchanges.

Many United States based cryptocurrency exchanges collected personal information from their customers. That information was usually a record of names, addresses, driver’s license numbers and contact information.

Cryptocurrency is decentralized, and not having any governmental regulation is an appeal of digital asset management. The executive order did not set out a path for regulation, but it did emphasize the U.S. government’s concern with digital asset exchange strategies that could inadvertently expose personal data.