Crypto ATMs Surpass 10,000 Globally, Showing 87% Surge In The Past Year

AksjeBloggen, a Norwegian financial services company, has recently made an article about the matter. In this article, the company highlighted how the past year had seen crypto ATMs spike in number by a factor of 87%, having previously recorded 5336 ATMs in total back in  September of 2019. However, in 2020 alone, almost 3,900 new crypto ATMs were added into the fold.

CoinATMRadar, a monitoring resource for crypto ATMs in general, made it clear that 71 countries across the world had a hefty 10,014 ATMs spread across them. These ATMs allow users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) for cash.

AksjeBloggen highlighted the massive surge of ATMs supporting cryptocurrencies in 2020 alone. Between January and September of this year, the number increased by 67%, with 3,885 new crypto ATMs opening up in nine months.

US Clear Leader In Crypto ATM Volume

As it stands now, the clear leader in this market, by a significant margin, is the US, with other 7,800 crypto ATMs under its belt. Canada, its neighbor, holds second place with 869 machines. Crunching the numbers, this means that the US is ahead of its competitor by more than 89%.

While it depends on the machine, a crypto holder can purchase or withdraw some of the major cryptocurrencies out there, including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), BTC, Dash (DASH), Ether (ETH), Zcash (ZEC), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Monero (XMR), XRP and Tether (USDT).

Some Growth; Some Regression

It should be noted, however, that this growth in the number of crypto ATMs is not universal. Austria stands as one of the few countries on CoinATMRadar to show a negative growth of installation ever since 2019. In September of 2019, the country hosted 244 crypto ATMs, but the number currently stands at 149.

This decrease in crypto ATMs could be related to the regulatory atmosphere of the country. Germany, Austria’s neighbor, has implemented new regulations regarding crypto and holds just 27 crypto ATMs in total. German crypto ATM owners are mandated to get a license from BaFin, the financial regulator of the country before they can be allowed to do business. Any German business hosting unlicensed crypto ATMs on their property, irrespective of the real ownership of said ATM, can be held liable for it.

As the world slowly integrates crypto into its mainstream finance, the number of crypto ATMs out there will probably only grow.  It will be interesting to see how the world reacts to crypto as its demand inevitably rises.