The number of bitcoin ATMs in the US has exploded over the past year. In fact, despite having been in existence for several years, there are now 171% more bitcoin ATMs in the US than there were just 12 months ago.
According to CoinAtmRadar.com, there were 4,948 bitcoin ATMs across the US on March 1st, 2020, and 13,451 on March 1st, 2021, almost three times as many. They also appear to have grown even further, as there are now 376 more bitcoin ATMs than there were on March 1st.
Taking the global figures as a whole, they have risen from 7,134 on March 1st, 2020 to 16,664 today, with more than 80% located in the USA.
In Europe, the growth has been much less significant, because if a year ago there were 1,223, today there are only 1,253, i.e. an insignificant growth.
Actually, Canada, with its 37 million inhabitants, is likely to oust the whole of Europe from second place, with its 1,238 bitcoin ATMs, up 72% in one year.
In some European countries, the number is actually falling, such as in the UK, where it has dropped from 282 to 184 in the last 12 months.
In other words, the US and Canada are the two most important markets in the world for this kind of service, which is in fact the only free, public and secure way to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using paper banknotes.
The success of bitcoin ATMs in the US
It cannot be ruled out that the success of crypto ATMs in the US is a consequence of the government and central bank’s monetary stimulus as a response to the pandemic, as there has been a strong growth in new ATM installations in the US since February 2020.
Until January 2020, they had never increased by more than 300 units per month, and since February they have never fallen below this threshold again. On the contrary, there was a further acceleration in October, with almost 1,000 new installations, while the highest peak of new monthly installations per hour occurred precisely in the last month, with 1,123 ATMs more than the previous month’s overall total.
In fact, it is well known that many Americans who have received the dollar cheque from the anti-Covid monetary stimulus are investing part or even all of it in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, and crypto ATMs can be a quick way to buy, even without a verified account on an exchange.
Let’s not forget that these devices often only offer cryptocurrency purchasing functions, while only some of them also provide the possibility to sell cryptocurrencies.
If central banks in other parts of the world, such as the eurozone, were to opt for similar monetary stimuli, the demand for crypto ATMs could start to grow.
