Crypto ATMs, which allow you to buy Bitcoin for example by paying in cash with physical banknotes, have been steadily growing for ten months.
It is revealed by an analysis by AltIndex which highlights how since July of last year they have increased by 5,600 units worldwide.
Bitcoin news: the role of crypto ATMs
Crypto ATMs are automatic teller machines, very similar to bank ones, that allow the buying and selling of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
They have been around for several years now, so much so that CoinAtmRadar has been tracking them for almost eleven years, and are commonly considered the safest way to convert fiat currency into crypto.
They can also be used, on the other hand, to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies, but not all of them offer this service.
Furthermore, they do not support all cryptocurrencies, but only the main ones, including of course Bitcoin.
If in the early years of their diffusion they also allowed anonymous purchases, i.e. without KYC, this type of purchase has been made illegal in many countries, and so for some time now they allow the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in cash only after registration and verification of the user’s identity.
The rise of Bitcoin ATMs
In the first half of 2023 there was a sharp drop in crypto ATMs, both due to the bear market of 2022 and especially because of the new laws that forced many companies to remove those without KYC.
After reaching the peak in December 2022, with over 39,000 installed and mapped worldwide, they dropped to 32,000 in July of last year, with about 7,000 crypto ATMs closed within seven months.
However, since then a process of continuous growth has been triggered, which has been going on for ten consecutive months now, bringing the number back to over 37,000. The record of December 2022 is still a bit far away, but it is at the same level as April 2022.
Furthermore, from the peak of December 2022, only 1,600 are missing.
Note that at the end of 2020, at the beginning of the last major bull run, they do not exceed 12,000.
According to AltIndex, the renewed popularity of crypto ATMs is due to the impressive performance of cryptocurrency prices in 2024.
The crypto ATM market
Note that the growth of the last ten months has been driven by the USA.
The United States has always been the country with the highest number of crypto ATMs, so much so that out of the 37,000 currently mapped, almost 31,000 are there. Therefore, over 80% of all crypto ATMs in the world are installed in the USA.
Furthermore, more than 75% of all new devices installed in the last ten months have been placed in US cities, so much so that the total number of crypto ATMs in the USA has risen from 26,800 to almost 31,000.
The significantly lower figure in Europe (1,600) is surprising, which is nineteen times lower than that of the USA. Furthermore, in Europe, only 156 have been installed in the last few months, while in Asia they have even decreased by 350 units.
It is obvious that these ATMs are more commonly used where there is a higher usage of cash in the form of paper banknotes, and where legal regulations make installation and management easier.
It is worth noting that 70% of all crypto ATMs in the world belong to just ten operators, while the remaining 30% belong to another 474 operators. The single largest operator in the world is Bitcoin Depot, which alone holds a market share of 20%, and more than 7,500 ATMs.
The second operator is Coinflip, with a market share of 13%, followed by Bitstop, RockItCoin, and Athena Bitcoin (6%).
This makes the crypto ATM sector decidedly competitive.
The most recent data
2024 has been a very positive year for Bitcoin and for crypto ATMs.
The rise in cryptocurrency prices has stimulated the demand for these automatic tellers, after a difficult 2023 in which their number returned to 2021 levels.
The most difficult month was indeed July 2023, when in just one month the crypto ATMs decreased by over 4,000 units worldwide.
Just think that at that time there were only ten crypto ATMs in the whole of Great Britain, with a reduction of over 88%, since previously there were more than 80.
Since then, however, the trend has reversed, with a rise that seems to be continuing even now.
The month with the highest number of new machines installed was September 2023, with approximately 1,000 new crypto ATMs. The following month, the increase was also similar.
Since in the last few months the rate at which they are increasing has decreased, it is possible that September and October 2023 was a sort of reaction to the black July of the same year.
These numbers also do not take into account the exchanges of cryptocurrencies into digital fiat currencies that take place on exchanges, which are also increasing.
They actually concern almost exclusively cash exchanges, since crypto ATMs tend to have higher fees compared to online exchanges, which are therefore preferred whenever possible.
Crypto ATMs, on the other hand, have no rivals for cash exchanges, as the alternative (direct P2P exchanges in person between buyers and sellers) is to be considered high risk.