Buying Bitcoin on a Bitcoin ATM. Source: Shutterstock
Startups have taken note of the growing interest in cryptocurrencies, seizing the opportunity to position themselves in the market and Crypto ATM manufacturers are expanding more than ever.
According to figures from the metrics website Coin ATM Radar, so far in 2020, there has been a growth of more than 80% in the deployment of new crypto ATMs. This is almost 3 times the amount reported at the beginning of 2019.
The world welcomed 2020 with 6372 Crypto ATMs. At the time of writing, there are already 11665 ATMs deployed all over the globe… and the number is still growing.
ATMs are expanding like wildfire. Estimates from Coin ATM Radar calculate that virtually one new ATM is put into operation every hour. The exact figure? 23 new ATMs per day.
The United States leads the way as far as numbers go. Industry growth in that sector is almost exponential compared to Europe. In 2020, Americans went from having 4213 ATMs to 9242 ATMs in locations ranging from a small shopping mall to a Tesla gigafactory.
The country has 79.2% of all Bitcoin ATMs in the world, followed by Canada with 880 ATMs – 7.5% of the world total. The United Kingdom is the European country with more ATMs (268), while Hong Kong leads the Asian market with 62 Bitcoin ATMs (seems they like crypto ATMs more than fiat ATMS). Colombia is the undisputed leader in Latin America with 40 ATMs, while South Africa leads its continent with only 6 Crypto ATMs.
Genesis Coin is the leading startup in the industry. The San Francisco firm has deployed 4189 ATMs worldwide and is the one that has registered the fastest growth. The second and third places correspond to General Bytes with 3442 ATMs and BitAccess with 1136.
Another sector that is showing signs of a healthy growth is trading. According to data from Useful Tulips —a metrics site focused on tracking p2p markets— the activity is recovering after the horrible consequences of March’s crash. North America, Latin America and Africa have recorded spikes in activity, breaking yearly records —and even ATHs— along the way.
The increasing number of Crypto ATMs shows that the adoption of cryptocurrencies is growing every day. As new products and crypto services strengthen the ecosystem, ordinary citizens’ exposure to this new type of technology becomes a lot easier.
And not only ATM companies have noticed this. This phenomenon has also crossed the minds of strategists from large financial companies such as PayPal, MicroStrategy, Square, and Grayscale, who have not only invested in the acquisition of this type of asset but have also lowered the entry barrier, making Bitcoin more friendly to those who had never dared to invest in crypto.
This article was first published on: Nov 7, 2020
