- Bitcoin ATMs are declining in use and popularity.
- Over 400 of these machines have gone off grid since the beginning of this year.
- The decline could be caused by the ongoing bear market.
It seems centralized crypto exchanges aren’t the only crypto-related technology losing popularity. Looks like 2023 has been a rough year for Bitcoin ATMs. As the crypto market steadily tries to recover, Bitcoin ATMs are struggling to stay relevant. Perhaps investors are considering the rising gas prices over buying more Bitcoin.
Specifically, in less than 60 days, more than 400 Bitcoin ATMs have gone offline, resulting in a significant decline in the global cryptocurrency ATM network. Certainly, this is unfortunate to see, especially since Bitcoin ATMs were all the rage over the last few years.
This decline marks a departure from the steady increase in crypto ATM installations since 2014, with over 1,000 crypto and Bitcoin ATMs being installed each month between December 2020 and January 2022. In the first two months of 2023 alone, 412 Bitcoin ATMs have been shut down.
While the bear market and geopolitical tensions were initially attributed to the decline, service providers have since explored cheaper alternatives for operations. These include efforts such as Bitcoin Depot converting its 7,000 machines to BitAccess software to reduce software licensing fees.
To highlight, Bitcoin ATMs were installed in many parts of the world. The countries that usually made headlines for installing Bitcoin ATMs include the USA and El Salvador. While El Salvador has always been a staunch supporter of Bitcoin and cryptos, the USA has a rocky relationship with the industry.
Presently, the SEC is on a warpath to further complicate the presence of crypto service providers. It went after Kraken and is now setting its eyes on Binance and Coinbase. The CEO of Coinbase voiced his opinion on the US’ negative behaviour towards staking possibly stunting future business growth.
