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The largest ever decline in the history of Bitcoin ATM expansion took place in March, with more than 3,600 crypto ATMs going offline.
Bitcoin ATMs and the record in declines: more than 3,600 went offline in March 2023 alone
According to CoinATMRadar data, March 2023 was a record month for Bitcoin ATMs, though for their decline. Indeed, it appears that 3,625 crypto ATMs went offline in the past month alone.
An absolute counter-trend in 2023, which already saw a decrease of 1588 Bitcoin ATMs in January, followed by -275 in February and now -3,625.
Yet despite the long crypto winter of 2022, the number of Bitcoin ATMs globally had also fallen, but without going negative. Basically, the net change in crypto ATMs installed and removed monthly has always remained in the positive, registering continuous growth in installations.
However, in 2023, the situation has indeed changed, and the trend seems to be precisely reversed to the usual one, with March standing out as the worst month in terms of Bitcoin ATM installations.
Bitcoin ATMs and the number of removals outpacing installations
Despite this increase in the number of Bitcoin ATM removals compared to the number of installations in the last month, looking at the latest Coin ATM Radar communications here is the latest “new entry” recorded on 31 March 2023.
Just installed @generalbytes #bitcoin ATM at Supreme Mart in #FallRiver 🇺🇸. Operated by @Coin_Mover. Supported coins: #BTChttps://t.co/Cz7ijUrhZX pic.twitter.com/LVW3KEc7CR
— Coin 𝔸𝕋𝕄 Radar ₿🏧🌎 (@CoinATMRadar) March 31, 2023
General Bytes, along with BitAccess and Genesis Coin, are the current leaders in physical crypto ATMs.
Speaking of which, General Bytes itself had experienced security problems in mid-March, complete with the loss of its customers’ funds. And indeed, the Bitcoin ATM manufacturer had promised to reimburse those losses:
On March 17-18th, 2023, GENERAL BYTES experienced a security incident.
We released a statement urging customers to take immediate action to protect their personal information.
We urge all our customers to take immediate action to protect their funds and https://t.co/fajc61lcwR…
— GENERAL BYTES (@generalbytes) March 18, 2023
The report on the countries with the highest usage rates
Recently, Trading Browser published a report on the nations with the highest Bitcoin ATM usage rates.
That report seeks to point out the disparities that exist between countries that host more crypto ATMs and those where there is a greater tendency by the population to embrace the alternative financial solution.
Basically, the report analyzed the number of Bitcoin ATMs, cash payments, unbanked population, % of crypto ownership, and total population in 14 countries with different adoption rates.
This study revealed that the level of crypto adoption depends on how the population is connected to cash payments and bank accounts.
To give a concrete example, Mexico has a population where 60% of people do not have access to bank accounts but ranks second on the list with 46 Bitcoin ATMs. Not only that, 3.4% of the Mexican population owns crypto assets and is three times the adoption rate of developed countries like Norway and Denmark.
South Africa has 31% of the population unbanked, though 21 crypto ATMs have been installed and 10% of the population owns some form of cryptocurrency.
Following this reasoning, it is easy to understand how the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and Finland, have a record 1% cash payment rate and nearly 100% of the population is connected to traditional banks.