Popularity of Bitcoin ATM in the United States
- November 20, 2017
Bitcoin ATMs are coming up in many places around the globe, and it is because of the growth of Bitcoin. Since the end of 2015 there are many new Bitcoin ATMs seen coming up in many places, and currently, US holds the maximum number of Bitcoin ATMs in the world. Although the useful application of Bitcoin ATM machines could be more in developing countries where financial inclusion is low, interestingly majority of Bitcoin ATMs are coming up in developed countries like the US.
As per our recent information, 55 percent of all Bitcoin ATMs are in North America whereas 28 percent is in Europe. Because 6 percent is in Oceania means almost 90 percent of all Bitcoin ATM machines are in developed countries. For many, it can be surprising, but there are various reasons for this. Overall cost for Bitcoin ATM may be very high for average businesses in many developing countries concerning the risk of operating as well as running it. Also, higher return on investment required can be achieved from locations having a relatively huge user base and stable Bitcoin usage, which is mostly in developed countries as of date. This results in higher transaction volume and growing demand for Bitcoin ATM machines in such parts.
When it comes to leading country within all developed countries lust regarding Bitcoin ATM adoption, United States stands tall. As of June 2017, it has around 627 Bitcoin ATM machines installed around the world which comprises of approximately 50 percent of all Bitcoin ATM installations worldwide. This figure shows the demand and growing craze of Bitcoin currency in this part of the globe. In coming days it is expected that more Bitcoin ATMs will be coming up in different regions of the country; certainly, we know how to make full use of this new currency!
Reputed Bitcoin operators
There is a rapid growth of Bitcoin currency seen in the US, and it is all because of the market concentration which is occurring over the past couple of years. Many new investors are eager to start Bitcoin ATM business. In the past few years many companies or operators seen coming up with Bitcoin ATM machines around the country, in days to come we expect more to follow up. As per our data, some of the top Bitcoin ATM operators in this part of the globe are Cottonwood Vending, Red Leaf Chicago, Athena Bitcoin, EasyBit, and CoinSource. There are much more other operators coming up installing Bitcoin ATM machine all around the country. Interestingly most of these popular and leading Bitcoin ATM operators are seen preferring Genesis Coin and BitAccess Bitcoin ATM machines. There are ATM kiosks installed all around the country, and through our portal, you can locate Bitcoin ATM booths near to your place.
Popular Bitcoin ATM machines
Looking at some of the popular Bitcoin operators in this part of the world we found a common trend. The majority of the Bitcoin ATM machines are Genesis Coin ATMs. As per our data Genesis is the leading Bitcoin ATM manufacturer in the world with around 46 percent market share of all Bitcoin installations worldwide. Based on a report of 2015 in the United States it was found that Genesis Coin machines reached around 60 percent of all installations around the country. There are many factors to help you understand the reason behind so many installations or popularity of this brand.
Experts believe Genesis Coin is known for good customer support all around the world and they provide top notch remote control over back office services. Integrated by default support of AML/KYC features and reliability makes this brand hugely popular in the United States. Many operators are seen giving feedback that Genesis Bitcoin ATMs give 100% back end server uptime, making it undoubtedly the best in present day time. A newly introduced cheaper two-way Bitcoin ATM machine named Satoshi2 is also used by many operators, and it is giving tough competition to the first generation model named Genesis1 Bitcoin ATM machine.
The most popular BTM machine here is Genesis Coin with over more than 50 percentage installation followed by General Bytes, BitAccess and Lamassu.
Places with more installations
There is a noticeable concentration of Bitcoin ATM services happening in this part of the globe with many Bitcoin ATM machines located in close areas. The two most common examples are Chicago and New York. As per our recent data, there are around 115 Bitcoin ATM machines from different operators around New York and 74 Bitcoin ATM machines are located in Chicago. These are all huge numbers when you consider the fact that this new currency is in its nascent stage. However other cities are too coming up with a good number of Bitcoin ATM installations, and in few years’ time, we can see huge competition around popular cities. Stay tuned with us for more updates on this particular section.
Transaction Fees
Bitcoin ATM fees vary from place to place and as per our information average Bitcoin buying fees is 8.18 percent as of March 2016 and selling price is around 5.4 percent. With time this Bitcoin ATM price tends to change. In the United States, the price margin is around 11 percent for buying Bitcoins from BTM and 4.5 percent for selling Bitcoins. Both buying and selling fees can be explained through regulatory requirements. As it is a KYC/AML compliant business, the higher cost is required to conduct business. In this part operators need to develop KYC/AML policy and conduct Bitcoin ATM business in a compliant way, it leads to more effort and hence such high fees.
On the other side, traditional financial institutions such as banks are not willing to have clients like Bitcoin ATM operators as they are regularly depositing cash to account, it considerably increasing risks for financial institutes. Because of lack of traditional financial services available in the market and constant need of digital currency to run business many operators lower selling fees. This is attracting more users to sell Bitcoins, and it can be further purchased from the same machine by other users. It is the reason why some Bitcoin operators around the country are giving sell rate to around 0% or even negative when compared to the market price.
Side effect of low fees
Not many Bitcoin users are aware of this fact that low sell rates can bring interesting side effect. Because of low sell rate, it is becoming very easy and cheap to transfer money from any other place to the United States using Bitcoin as rails. Most remittance corridors are from the United States but not to the United States; it is a good opportunity to buy Bitcoins from foreign countries and send it to someone within the country. Another most interesting scenario could be when two Bitcoin ATM machines are used at the same time. Recipients from one machine send a QR code to the sender over the internet, he or she further use it to buy digital currency from another Bitcoin machine at the same time. In this case, the whole process seems like someone feeds British Pound for instance to a Bitcoin machine from one side of the globe and at the same time another person receives USD in cash from another side. Negative selling Bitcoin rates compensate buying fees to an extent. It makes the price not only quick but also quite cheap too. Bitcoin transaction takes places between two different Bitcoin addresses of different machine operators; it means none of the sender or the recipient, need to know much about Bitcoin or have wallets set up. All they need is cash and to be present at two different locations at the same time.
Popular Locations
Finally, in this particular section, we will pay heed to location types, where most Bitcoin ATM machines are installed. Bitcoin ATMs are installed in Supermarket or food store, E-cigar shops or Cigar Tobacco shop, Computer, electronic, games or mobile stores, Pizzeria or Restaurants, Money or Forex services, Workspace or Hackerspace, Petrol Station, Pub or Bar and Shopping malls.
There are different categories in total where you can buy or sell Bitcoin as per your need. As per a recent research, it was found that most Bitcoin ATM machines in the United States are situated at places related to food stores or restaurants. A good percentage of Bitcoin ATM machine installations are found in e-cigar shops too. Many financial service locations have Bitcoin ATMs installed. The most interesting figure is shopping malls and other high traffic places which count only 5.3 percent. The reason may be higher rents that are charged at most of the shopping malls.
You can always avail our online services to locate Bitcoin ATM booth nearby.
