Drug deals, arms trading and pints in trendy hipster bars. Those are alternative purchases you can make with Bitcoin which has just had its first ATM installed in Ireland on Dublin's Abbey Street.

A US official has recently warned that users leave themselves open to fraud and theft.

The machine, based in GSMsolutions, converts euros to the virtual currency, but the Financial Regulator says people who use it do not have consumer protection.

The ATM can turn your cash into Bitcoin in 12 seconds at the current market rate of Bitcoin, which fluctuates across online exchanges.

The Irish Bitcoin Foundation - established to ease the integration of Bitcoin into the Irish economy - says "Bitcoin the the future of currency and we urge banks in Ireland to consider how Bitcoin will help the economy".

"Its not about competing with government currency, its about the technology and how it can spur growth in the Irish economy" it adds.

Bitcoin rates are dependent on online exchanges

It comes less than a week after a website, which recently stood as the most popular Bitcoin exchange in the world, filed for bankruptcy.

Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in a court in Texas on Sunday.

The company said without US bankruptcy protection it would spend substantial funds defending itself against a US lawsuit seeking class action status that was filed in Chicago.

The site shut down suddenly last month leaving users without access to almost €300 million worth of Bitcoin.

Newstalk's Business Editor Ian Guider outlines the slightly less serious pitfalls to using Bitcoin.