Cryptocurrency automated teller machine installations have been steadily declining over the past few months. Whereas some of the machines have been removed because of geopolitical tensions and a decline in total revenue, companies such as Bitcoin Depot have begun to convert their Bitcoin automated tellers into software.
Recently, Bitcoin Depot transformed all of its cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks to software systems that are powered by BitAccess. The push to convert to software came after the company purchased majority equity in BitAccess last November. Prior to that deal, Bitcoin Depot had released its plan to go public in the coming year via a deal with a SPAC.
The conversion of the ATMs helps to eliminate yearly licensing fees. In past years, those fees accounted for $3 million USD in operational costs. BitAcess became a leader in the market during the first six months of 2022. However, data from Coin ATM Radar shows that since that time the firm has experienced a steady decline in the total number of ATM installations.
Currently, BitAccess has fallen to third place in the market, just after Genesis Bytes and Genesis Coin. Both of those companies have managed to increase their market shares. Discussing the motivation for the change, Jason Sacco, the company’s VP of operations, said:
“By swapping out the existing hard drive with one preloaded with Bitaccess software, we quickly completed the software conversion while avoiding certain technical issues that can happen in field conversion projects.”
Sacco further disclosed that 6,000 of the firm’s Bitcoin ATMs were converted over to software in only 10 weeks.
The boost in the number of cryptocurrency ATMs is in direct proportion to the general public’s level of cryptocurrency exposure. When El Salvador elected to authorize Bitcoin for use as legal tender, the country’s president announced that the nation would construct an infrastructure consisting of 200 ATMs and 50 different branches.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the U.K.’s financial regulator, recently declared that every cryptocurrency ATM in operation within the country is unauthorized and illegal. Mark Steward, the Financial Conduct Authority’s director of enforcement has previously shared his intention to break up unregistered cryptocurrency companies operating within the country.