Last year, El Salvador became virtually synonymous with “Bitcoin country,” as bitcoin (BTC) became an officially recognized currency in the country. But now there are countries that can withstand the bear market better than El Salvador. For example, Australia now has a larger number of crypto payment terminals than El Salvador.
Australia installs many ‘crypto ATMs’
Last October, Spain also overtook the Central American country in the number of crypto ATMs. The total in Spain then amounted to 212 pieces. By now it is this slowly continued to grow to 272 devices, according to Coin ATM Radar.
But growth in Australia is much more explosive – exponential, even. The number bottomed out in early 2020 when the bear market ended, and since then the number has only continued to climb. In the past five months, this number has even increased from just 71 to 219, much faster than in Spain.
With this, Australia is immediately larger in the vending machines than almost every country in Europe. Only Spain has more than Australia at the time of writing. Australia is now number four worldwide, only Spain, Canada and the United States have more. Australia now has 0.6% of all crypto payment terminals worldwide.
Bear market drops number of crypto payment terminals
Also, the bear market has quite an effect on the number of these devices. Last October was the first month with a declining number. Now the number remains largely flat, apparently because the number is decreasing in some other countries. The growth of recent years remains undeniable. In just 9 years, the number of crypto machines has grown from zero to almost 39,000. The industry for these physical devices is expected to be worth $500 million by 2027.
Other steps are being taken in some countries that are driving more crypto adoption. For example, 24,000 regular payment terminals in Brazil will soon support Tethers USDT stablecoin. Brazil is home to many people without a bank account, by supporting USDT these people can also make payments more easily.