Why Bitcoin ATMs are Removed gradually

Even though the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies is gradually growing globally .The bear market and geopolitical tensions affected the crypto industry's growth, limiting the number of Bitcoin ATMs installed worldwide.

Although the crypto market is recovering from brutal 2022, Bitcoin ATMs are losing popularity. For years, their number continuously grew, with thousands of new crypto ATMs installed each month. After reaching an all-time high of more than 39,100 in December 2022, the number of Bitcoin ATMs or crypto ATMs significantly dropped this year.

A subject matter expert says, Bitcoin ATM are expensive — some machines charge high fees (up to 20%) for each transaction. They may not be in your area — machines tend to be concentrated in highest-population cities and locations.

The April month have broken the three-month-long downward trend in this regard. According to the data shown at Coin ATM Radar, 39 new physical ATMs have been installed in different locations. Notably, General Bytes, Genesis Coin, and BitAccess are at the moment among the top crypto ATM manufacturing providers.

Although the United States still has the highest number of crypto ATMs, most of the removed Bitcoin ATMs were in the US market. According to CoinATMRadar data, US citizens could use over 28,900 crypto ATMs as of this week, down from 34,200 in November last year. Nevertheless, the United States still has almost 20 times more crypto ATMs than Europe, which counts close to 1,456 these machines as of this week.

General Bytes is the largest crypto ATM manufacturer globally, with a 28,7% market share and over 9,700 machines as of April. BitAccess ranked second with a 20% market share and around 6,700 BTMs. Genesis Coin and CoinCloud follow with a 17% and 12,6% market share, respectively.

Going forward, the year 2023 has seen a rare decline in Bitcoin ATMs installation. A report says, more than 5,500 crypto ATMs went offline during the first three months of 2023.