In 2023, Bitcoin saw a surge in its value, but the number of kiosks offering the option to buy cryptocurrencies using cash or debit cards decreased. According to Coin ATM Radar, the total number of crypto ATMs worldwide decreased from 37,827 at the beginning of 2023 to 33,628 at the start of 2024, a significant decline in just one year.
This decline is unusual, as the number of installed Bitcoin ATMs had been on an upward trend for the past decade, with a growth at the start of each year. Since tracking began in 2013, the number of ATMs reached an all-time high of 39,376 in August 2022, indicating the rising popularity of crypto and acceptance of ATMs as a means of acquiring digital assets.
However, 2023 saw a departure from this trend, with a decrease in the total number of Bitcoin ATMs by the end of the year. Globally, the number of installed ATMs is approximately 11.1% lower than at the beginning of the year. This decline was particularly prominent in the United States, which is home to 82% of all crypto ATMs, experiencing a significant drop of 15.4% from 32,672 to 27,631 in 2023.
Coin ATM Radar’s data suggests that the decrease may be attributed to BitAccess, a major crypto ATM manufacturer, whose net installations decreased by 26% from 9,160 in August 2022 to 6,774 on January 1, 2024.
However, amidst this decline, there were some noteworthy incidents related to Bitcoin ATMs in 2023. In one bizarre case, a man from Missouri was sentenced to five years of probation for shooting a Bitcoin ATM with a handgun in an attempt to prevent it from taking money from others. In another case, a company operating under the name Bitcoin Depot initiated legal action against a sheriff’s office in Texas for unlawfully seizing $15,000 from one of their Bitcoin ATMs. The funds were intended to compensate an elderly victim who had fallen prey to an online crypto scam.
On a positive note, Bitcoin Depot went public on the Nasdaq and expanded its operations to the 28th state in the US, reporting a revenue of $179.5 million in Q3 2023, a 3% increase from the previous year.
Despite the decline in the US, the number of Bitcoin ATMs continued to grow in countries like Australia, Canada, Spain, and Poland. Additionally, two major manufacturers, General Bytes and Genesis Coin, expanded their ATM count throughout the year.