The first Bitcoin ATM was installed almost 10 years ago. Since then they have popped up literally everywhere; from busy streets in New York to stock exchanges in London. They became something of a physical symbol of a growing crypto market. Now, however, its growth is stagnating and the number of devices is even decreasing slightly.
FTX also has an effect on this
The bankruptcy of FTX also seems to have had an effect here. While in the United States (US) there was a peak of more than 34,000 installed Bitcoin ATMs in August, this has now fallen slightly. September has turned out to be the first month in industry history that more Bitcoin ATMs are disabled than installed.
This is striking, given that the number of crypto ATMs actually increased relatively quickly. In fact, almost 3 times as many crypto ATMs were installed in the earlier months. The figure below shows the development of the number of Crypto-ATMs. It is worth mentioning that the number of these ATMs is still much higher than in 2020, for example.
New location crypto ATMs
However, with growth stagnating, crypto ATM manufacturers are faced with increasingly difficult choices. Coin Cloud is one such manufacturer that operates approximately 5,000 crypto ATMs in the US and Brazil. They have now brought in advisors to help it recoup approximately $125 million in accrued debt to fund an aggressive expansion. The company is reportedly seeking additional funding from troubled crypto broker Genesis.
Some of Coin Cloud’s kiosks are located in rural areas with little foot traffic, according to people with knowledge of the company. This, in turn, can have a more negative effect on the company’s bottom line. While the company is not expected to shut down its crypto ATMs, some could be relocated. However, it remains to be seen whether this will actually happen.
