FutureBit’s Apollo III Bitcoin Miner Hits Micro Center Shelves in Its First Brick-and-Mortar Launch

FutureBit is putting its Apollo III Full Node on sale Friday at four Micro Center stores, the first time customers can walk into a shop and take home one of the Brooklyn company’s bitcoin miners.

The compact home miner, which also runs a full bitcoin node, will be sold in Brooklyn, Miami, Tustin, California, and Austin, Texas, as those stores open Friday, FutureBit said in a release. The four-store launch coincides with the grand opening of Micro Center’s new Austin store, the chain’s 31st U.S. location and its third in Texas.

Customers will also be able to reserve a unit online for in-store pickup, the company said. It did not say how many units each store has in stock, or what Micro Center is charging for them.

Until now, buyers in North America had to order the machine from FutureBit’s website, where the company says units are in stock and ship in two to three days. Putting it on a computer-store shelf lets a customer look at the hardware, ask how it works and carry it out the same day.

“When we started FutureBit, we made weekly trips to the DIY electronics section at the Brooklyn Micro Center to buy parts,” said John Stefanopoulos, founder of FutureBit. “On Friday, someone can walk into that same store, ask how Bitcoin mining works and take home a miner we designed just down the street. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Micro Center on our first physical store launch.”