In the world of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin ATMs have been a crucial part of facilitating the adoption and access to this decentralized digital currency, although it is a pity that these ATMs are not in my country Venezuela. However, recently there has been a significant change with $BTC ATMs, and that is that the number of active Bitcoin ATMs worldwide has decreased. What is behind this trend and how it affects users and the crypto community, stay that I want to explain in more detail in this new article.
For your convenience I will leave a list with the sub topics I will be covering in this new article, I hope you enjoy it and remember to leave your opinion in the comments.
Bitcoin ATM - Edited in Photoshop CC
Table of contents for this article:
♦️ The origin of Bitcoin ATMs.
♦️ United States and Canada: Dominance and Loss.
♦️ Australia: An Exception in the Decline.
The origin of Bitcoin ATMs.
Since 2013 approximately, ATMs have been installed in different parts of the world, this with the intention of facilitating access to the purchase of $BTC with local currency, let's say they are ATMs like the usual ones, but instead of giving you money or $ in cash, you deposit your money there to buy Bitcoin, something that sounds very interesting for many interested in the Crypto topic, or so I would say, since I would be super happy to see one of these ATMs in Venezuela, or at least in my state of residence, but this is not my case, since then the installation of these ATMs increased constantly, expanding to different regions or countries where the demand from interested users was so high that it would be very useful the installation of such ATMs.
By the year 2020 there were already around 6407 BTC ATMs worldwide, it was a very significant increase, and if we see it in a graph we can notice with better details the increase of these ATMs worldwide, I will leave an image so you can have a better context of what I am explaining in this article, this is the general graph of ATMs installed worldwide.
By 2020 there were already around 6407 BTC ATMs worldwide, it was a very significant increase, and if we see it in a graph we can notice with better details the increase of these ATMs worldwide, I will leave an image so you can have a better context of what I am explaining in this article, this is the general graph of ATMs installed worldwide.
A couple of years later, by the year 2023 there were already an estimated 38020 Bitcoin ATMs installed worldwide, and if you look closely at the graph you will notice that from 2013 to 2023 the increase in ATM installation was steadily increasing, but from 2023 the graph has changed, and this indicates that the boom or popularity of these ATMs are declining, and this is where the subject of today's article lies Is Bitcoin losing interest? This is certainly an interesting question to answer, and I can tell you that it has nothing to do with the fact that Bitcoin is no longer attractive to many, as this has different factors behind it.
United States and Canada: Dominance and Loss
In the image you are seeing here above is represented the world map with the areas of purchase or sale of Bitcoin with ATMs, it is important to note that here I am only focusing on the Crypto BTC, since many of these ATMs have options of different crypto as they can be: BCH, ETH, DASH, LTC, having that in mind I will proceed to explain a little bit the decline of ATMs, as it is quite an interesting topic to explain and I remind you that although I am not an expert on these topics, it always calls my attention to talk to you about all this, because in this way little by little I am gaining more knowledge, then I invite you to leave your opinion in the comments to start a debate.
The United States and Canada have been leaders in Bitcoin adoption, and together account for a good portion of the total Bitcoin ATM network. However, in May 2024, more than 300 ATMs were disconnected in these countries, marking a break in the 10-month growth streak. Why this decline? Law enforcement in the United States has been actively pursuing and shutting down ATMs used for illegal activities, and as we already know the various government entities are against crypto and its decentralization, so this also plays a big role.
Now, the two countries that used to lead the ranking table with the countries with the highest number of BTC ATMs, now have had a decline since 2023, in the graph that I will show you below we can see how it has decreased, first I will leave an image of the United States graph and then the graph of Canada.
This movement, which had been going so strong and steady for years, came to a standstill in 2023, but ..... I have some things in mind that give a logical explanation to this, and it would also be interesting to know what your opinion is, but one of the main ones are the different ways you can currently use to have Bitcoin, because for nobody is a secret that it is much better or more advisable to make use of a platform, Exchange or wallet to store and buy your Bitcoins.
Ledger wallets are also a great option, but today we can find better ways to buy BTC from the comfort of our homes, and this may be one of the reasons why ATMs are no longer having the same popularity as before, what do you think about it?
Australia: An Exception in the Decline
But that decline in countries like Canada and the United States, was slightly overshadowed by an increase in the installation of ATMs in other countries, such as the case of countries like: Spain, Poland and Australia, and the latter which I am mentioning is very important, as it currently has a total of 1,041 BTC ATMs, this can easily represent 2.8% of the total machines installed worldwide, and although it is still far below Canada or the United States, it is growing steadily while the two leading countries are now decreasing, I will show you a graph where you can see the increase of ATMs in the countries mentioned above.
In Australia there is a shopping mall called Karratha City, you can go in and buy different things, from food, personal care items, toys for the little ones, and even Bitcoin, in this mall you will find a Bitcoin ATM, and I mention this because as you may remember Australia is gaining momentum on the BTC ATM issue, and here you can find one so I have taken the time to look for some images to put you in context.
I managed to find the images thanks to Google Maps, so you can go here and see it all in more detail in the link below the image.
This is the image of an ATM in Australia, and it is really interesting to see how little by little Crypto adoption is becoming more popular in different continents or countries, and where Bitcoin is losing strength, others are taking up this great world of Blockchain and decentralization.
Now, if I had to give a final and personal opinion on this topic, I would say that the decline of Bitcoin ATMs is a complex phenomenon involving regulations, security and changes in user behavior or perhaps as I mentioned earlier, there are easier ways to buy BTC from home without having to go directly to an ATM, but as the industry evolves, it is crucial to understand these trends and adapt to ensure continued safe and secure access to cryptocurrencies, and I still continue to hope to see one of these ATMs somewhere near where I live, in the end, hope is the last thing you lose, right? .
Thank you all very much for reaching the end of this article and I hope you have a great day, remember to leave your comment so I can say hello....
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