US Could See 100k Regular ATMs Modified Into Bitcoin Vending Machines

An agreement between a traditional ATM manufacturer and a cryptocurrency sales machine company will permit buying Bitcoin at tens of thousands of areas in the United States using a debit card.

Bitcoin ATM firm LibertyX and normal ATM manufacturer Genmega have formed a joint venture that will permit the purchase of Bitcoin with a debit card at up to 100,000 US locations.

However, as Genmega caters mostly to the private ATM deployers, including the bitcoin-buying feature to the ATMs depends on the operators eagerness to provide the service. After making a request, the software will be updated to let users buy Bitcoin from the seller and transmit it to their cryptocurrency wallet.

The progress will be a boon to new clients as the Bitcoin buying process using ATMs is not vastly dissimilar from drawing fiat currency from a vending machine. According to LibertyX, building user-friendly cryptocurrency vending machines has been a top priority for the Bitcoin ATM firm from the time it was established.

Chris Yim, the co-founder and CEO of LibertyX, said

“We have been working tirelessly to make it easier to buy cryptocurrencies for the last five years and now are bringing simplicity, convenience and trust to the cryptocurrency purchasing experience.”

Currently, the number of Bitcoin ATMs in the United States is nearly 2330, which is the highest in the world, with major urban areas such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, New York and Chicago leading in coverage with more than 100 vending machines in each city. Notably, the world’s leading Bitcoin ATM manufacturer, Genesis Coin Inc, has its headquarters in the US. Genesis, according to Coin ATM Radar, has a market share of more than 32%.

Multiple factors have aided the US to become the pioneer as far as Bitcoin ATM coverage is concerned. This includes the rising level of crypto knowledge and adoption. A latest market research article has shown that this will remain the case in the predictable future.

A crypto ATM market research report released in August said

“The US is expected to continue to dominate the crypto ATM market during the forecast period owing to the presence of a large number of crypto ATM hardware and software providers and favorable investment environment (without any legal barriers).”

However, it remains to be seen how many of those 100,000 Genmega ATMs will go forward to implement the Bitcoin-purchasing feature. Even a minor percentage would significantly boost the number of Bitcoin ATMs not just in the US, but worldwide. As of now, the number of Bitcoin ATMs installed worldwide is just over 3,800 with an average of 5.58 bitcoin ATMs being instituted daily.