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California bill aims to cap crypto ATM withdrawals at $1,000 per day to combat scams

A new legislative investigation found some crypto ATMs charging a premium as high as 33%, while a few ATMs had limits of up to $50,000.

California legislators have proposed a new bill titled “Digital financial asset transaction kiosks,” calling for a cap on crypto ATM withdrawals of $1,000 per day in light of growing scams. Additionally, starting in 2025, the law would limit operators' fees to $5 or 15% (whichever is higher). The bill, if approved, would come into effect on January 1, 2024.

The bill was introduced after legislative members visited a crypto ATM in Sacramento and found markups as high as 33% on some crypto assets compared to their prices on crypto exchanges. On average, a crypto ATM charges fees between 12% and 25%, according to a legislative analysis.

Government officials also found ATMs with limits as high as $50,000, prompting them to take regulatory measures to curb such high premiums and withdrawal limits. There are more than 3,200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in California, according to Coin ATM Radar.

Democratic state Senator Monique Limón, who co-authored the proposed legislation, said the “new bill is about ensuring that people who have been frauded in our communities don’t continue to watch our state step aside" when there are real issues happening.

Another provision of the bill would require digital financial asset businesses to obtain a license from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation by July 2025

Crypto ATMs are a popular way for people to exchange cash for their choice of cryptocurrency, but have become a hub for scams and exploits because of the nature of transactions (i.e., hard cash). Unlike bank and wire transfers, this eliminates the possibility of leaving a trail.

Related: CoinSmart president says crypto taxes are a ‘little bit more favorable’ outside US

Some residents have recently been caught up in such scams where the scammer has persuaded the victim to go to the nearby crypto ATMs and deposit cash for the crypto of their choice. The victims of the ATM scam have lauded the move and said the low transaction limit will give them time to realize if they are being duped, reported the LA Times.

On the other hand, crypto ATM businesses said the new bill would harm the small operators who must pay rent on their ATMs. The operators noted that the bill fails to address the core issue of the fraud and instead takes a punitive path focused on a specific technology. They warned such a move would shudder the industry and hurt consumers while doing nothing to stop bad actors.

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KC Fed tracks healthy growth of crypto ATM industry despite predatory operators

The crypto ATM industry gets little attention relative to its size and issues. It appeals to users with motivations ranging from convenience to investment.

The crypto ATM business is thriving in the United States, despite criticism for illegal or predatory behavior, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Crypto ATMs have a growing customer base that could sometimes benefit from better education about crypto, the report concluded.

Crypto ATMs convert Bitcoin (BTC) and often other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins into or out of fiat. Like traditional ATMs, crypto ATMs are usually placed in high-traffic locations and charge a fee for their service. That fee is one of the sources of controversy about crypto ATMs, Kansas City Fed lead payments specialist Franklin Noll wrote in the report. The average fee to use a crypto ATM is 15-16%, and operators may set an unfavorable conversion rate, effectively driving fees up to 20% in many cases.

The report identified four user groups for crypto ATMs. Some were cash users who may be unbanked, possibly by preference. Older people who found ATM technology more familiar than that of crypto exchanges made up another segment. Some users were motivated by the convenience of using an ATM, and others found ATMs provide greater relative anonymity.

Related: UK FCA shuts down 26 crypto ATMs following coordinated investigation

Crypto ATMs require identification (“such as a phone number,” the report stated). Crypto ATMs are money-servicing businesses, so they are subject to state and federal regulation, including Anti-Money Laundering. This can be a major source of overhead costs for the operators, although regulatory compliance is sometimes low in the industry, the report stated.

Minority groups and immigrants make up a significant user group for the ATMs. Immigrants tend to buy crypto through ATMs to use in person-to-person transactions such as remittances:

“One explanation for this usage may be that the cost of using cryptocurrency obtained from a BTM [Bitcoin ATM] in a remittance may be comparable to the cost of sending a remittance via third parties using cash, when factoring in convenience, time savings, and transactional certainty and speed.”

The crypto ATM industry is often accused of predatory inclusion, that is, “disguising high-risk, high-cost services as ways for the financially disadvantaged to gain entry to lucrative financial investments.” It added, “[T]he losses to uneducated crypto investors using BTMs to purchase volatile cryptocurrencies could be substantial.”

The report also cited Chainalysis data showing that victims of scams moved $345 million through crypto ATMs in 2022. “The industry’s role in facilitating money laundering and scams may pose significant risks to the public,” the report concluded.

Industry statistics are rare and unreliable, but it is clearly growing after a COVID-related industry downturn, according to the report. Operator Bitcoin Depot went public in July and saw a significant revenue jump.

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Australia ranks 3rd in crypto ATM installations after US and Canada

Australia now enjoys 234 crypto ATMs, which puts her in the third spot globally after the United States and Canada.

Despite the bear market and the record-low dynamics of new Bitcoin ATM installations around the world, Australia breaks into the top three nations globally by the number of crypto ATMs. It was only in the first days of January when the Aussies got to the fourth spot — since that time they installed 16 more machines. 

According to Coinatmradar’s data, Australia now enjoys 234 crypto ATMs, which puts her in the third spot globally after the United States and Canada. In three weeks it outperformed Spain, which possesses 222 crypto ATMs.

It’s all about dynamics — Australia deployed 99 crypto ATMs, which is almost half of its total number, in only the last three months of 2022. And it doesn’t slow down. Since Jan.1, Australia has installed 16 new machines, while Spain has actually lost 4 and El Salvador, which holds the fifth global spot, hasn’t recorded a single new ATM.

Crypto ATM distribution by continents and countries. Source: CoinATMRadar

Overall, Australia’s numbers, as well as Spain’s and El Salvador’s, could hardly match the enormous proportion of crypto ATMs in the U.S. The States are home to 33.387 or 86.9% of all the machines in the world. Together with Canada (2.556) at the time of writing, they hold a stunning 94.4% of all the crypto ATMs.

Related: How to buy Bitcoin in Australia?

A year-long bear market in 2022, accompanied by geopolitical tensions and global inflation, resulted in a dramatic slowing down of the crypto ATMs installations. Only 94 Bitcoin ATMs were added between July to the end of 2022 to the global network in contrast to 4,169 ATMs during the first half of 2022.

In January 2023, the Australian city of Coolangatta got its first Bitcoin ATM with integrated Lightning Network capabilities. It works similarly to traditional crypto ATMs but saves significant time due to the layer-2 Lightning solution. And also allows for purchasing very small amounts of BTC.

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Lightning Network gets physical form in Australia with Bitcoin ATM

Lightning-enabled Bitcoin ATMs promise to offer instant transaction support and a significant cut in cost from traditional crypto ATMs.

The Australian city of Coolangatta has got its first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM with integrated Lightning network capabilities. The new ATM has been installed at The Strand shopping center in Coolangatta and is now available for use by the public.

A Bitcoin Lightning ATM works quite similarly to traditional Bitcoin ATMs but saves significant time because of the instant transaction capabilities of the layer-2 Lightning solution. It also allows for purchasing very small amounts of BTC, mostly in Satoshi (sats), the lowest denomination of Bitcoin, where one satoshi is equal to 0.00000001 BT.

At the moment, cryptocurrency ATMs settle transactions on the blockchain directly. This has restrictions of its own. For instance, operators had to adapt to batching of transactions when miner fees on the Bitcoin network considerably increased between 2017 and 2018.

In practice, this implies that even though a user purchases bitcoin via an ATM, it is not immediately transmitted to them. The operator has processes in place that wait for other ATM network users to utilize the machines before grouping and sending out transactions to several users at once in one bulk transaction. This problem can be resolved to a significant extent with the help of a Lightning network.

Using Lightning, the transaction becomes immediate because the operator doesn't need to batch the funds; as soon as cash is inserted, the user receives payment via the Lightning network. While there is still a debate over whether the fees would be reduced significantly d but they will likely be lower than an on-chain payment.

Related: Bitcoin ATM installations record low in May, biggest drop since 2019

The recent instalment of the Lightning-enabled Bitcoin ATM in Australia comes in the wake of Australia overtaking El Salvador to become the fourth-largest Bitcoin ATM hub in the world. Australia had 216 ATMs stepping into the year 2023.

The total number of crypto ATMs worldwide is 38,602, out of which 6,071 ATMs were installed in 2022 alone.

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Bitcoin ATM operator RockItCoin acquires Tao Bitcoin

The transaction included 56 machines from Tao Bitcoin, a regional operator in the south of the United States.

Bitcoin (BTC) ATM operator RockItCoin announced the acquisition of Tao Bitcoin on Oct. 25. Tao Bitcoin is a regional ATM operator with 56 machines, mostly located in the south of the United States.

According to the company, the acquisition was part of the company’s strategy to find value and synergies among smaller and regional players in the Bitcoin ATM space. With the deal, the machines operated by RockItCoin came to almost 1,900 units across 44 U.S. states.

The Bitcoin ATM industry is poised for consolidation in 2023, according to RockItCoin president Ben Phillips, with the company likely to acquire more players in the coming months. He stated:

“Where costs are increasing for many of the regional players, our existing networks, relationships and operations are poised for scalability.”

RockItCoin CEO and founder Michael Dalesandro also anticipated additional acquisitions in the fourth quarter of 2022:

“We are constantly on the lookout for ways to expand our footprint while continuing to serve our customers with convenient physical locations where they can safely and efficiently buy and sell cryptocurrency.”

Over the next few weeks, the former Tao Bitcoin ATMs will be rebranded as RockItCoin locations. Founded in 2016 by John Taylor and Andrew Arterburn, Tao Bitcoin analyzed several offers for the machines but decided to close the deal with RockItCoin after considering “values closely aligned with our own.”

“We are proud of the company we started from scratch to offer consumers easy access to cryptocurrency,” stated Taylor about the acquisition.

Over the next five years, the global cryptocurrency ATM market is forecast to grow rapidly to a half--billion-dollar market. A report published in July by Research and Markets estimates a compound annual growth rate of 59% for the industry from 2022 to 2027. It currently values the crypto ATM market at $46.4 million and expects this value to increase to $472 million over the time period.

Among the main drivers of this growth are the increase in remittances and fund transfers in developing countries, fluctuations in monetary regulations and crypto ATM installations.

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Bitcoin ATM installation slowdown continues for 4th month in 2022

The evident reduction in the installations of crypto ATMs could result from the regulators' hesitance to adopt the Bitcoin ecosystem.

April 2022 marked the fourth consecutive month of a slowdown in the installation of Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs, ever since the slowdown began at the start of the year.

BTC ATMs serve a crucial purpose for the Bitcoin economy, helping users physically retrieve or deposit BTC holdings against the corresponding cash reserves.

Net change of cryptocurrency machines number installed and removed monthly. Source: Coin ATM Radar

Based on the data provided by Coin ATM Radar, the year 2021 saw the highest global increase in the BTC ATM installations, with August witnessing its peak of 2,037 ATMs net change. Starting in January 2022, the crypto ATM net change fell down to 1,687 from December’s high of 1,969 ATMs.

Ever since, the net change in crypto ATM has maintained a downward trajectory, recording three-digit changes across the following months in February (970), March (757) and April (739).

Last year’s explosive growth in crypto ATMs was a direct result of jurisdictions like El Salvador embracing Bitcoin as legal tender, which currently hosts the third-largest network of BTC ATMs after the United States and Canada.

To highlight the highly untapped market for crypto ATMs, El Salvador hosts 205 Chivo-branded ATM machine, which amounts to 70% of all crypto ATMs in South America.

Number of bitcoin machines installed over time. Source: Coin ATM Radar

However, as previously pointed out by Cointelegraph, the evident reduction in the installations of crypto ATMs could be a result of the slowdown in newer jurisdictions willing to accept and adopt the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Number of cryptocurrency machines installed by manufacturer over time. Source: Coin ATM Radar

Genesis Coin maintains its long-standing dominance in the crypto ATM market, representing a 41.5% market share. Other prominent crypto ATM manufacturers include General Bytes (21.6%), BitAccess (15.2%) and Coinsource (5.3%).

Related: Bitcoin ATM installed in Mexico's Senate Building

On April 26, Mexico's Senate building installed its 14th BTC ATM, showcasing the country’s increasing interest in the crypto ecosystem.

Mexican senator Indira Kempis, who has recently proposed the legalization of Bitcoin, announced the launch of the new BTC ATM in Senate building while stating: 

“For freedom, inclusion and financial education in Mexico.”

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A dozen Bitcoin ATMs planned at the largest EU electronics retailer

Following a successful Bitcoin ATM pilot by Europe’s largest electronics retailer, 12 new Bitcoin ATMs are coming to Austria’s MediaMarkt stores.

Austrians have “sufficient funds” for more Bitcoin ATMs — hat’s the verdict that MediaMarkt, a German electronics retailer, reached following a successful Bitcoin ATM pilot in Austria. 

MediaMarkt will roll out Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in 12 branches across the country, including Seiersberg and Klagenfurt. According to the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, the pilot project, which featured a lone Bitcoin ATM in a MediaMarkt shop, proved that “Bitcoin ATMs in shops offer an opportunity to attract new customers.”

As Europe’s largest consumer electronics retailer, MediaMarkt operates in 13 countries, with over 850 stores and revenue exceeding 21 billion euros ($23 billion) in 2021. MediaMarkt partnered with Coinfinity, an Austrian Bitcoin company, to manage the pilot and subsequent rollout of the ATMs.

Confinity and its spinoff ATM company, Kurant, manage over 200 Bitcoin ATMs in Austria, Germany, Spain and Greece. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinfinity for comment and has not yet received a reply.

Bitcoin ATMs by Kurant (Coinfinity) across Europe. Source: Kurant

Bitcoin ATMs (automated teller machines), sometimes jokingly referred to as BTMs (Bitcoin teller machines), offer Bitcoin enthusiasts a means to cash out their BTC or deposit fiat. By simply scanning a wallet address, they can receive satoshis (the smallest denomination of BTC) or cash.

The news of more Bitcoin ATMs coming to Austria is welcome, considering that the growth in Bitcoin ATMs around the world has slowed in 2022.

Related: Santo Blockchain to deliver 50 Bitcoin ATMs to Panama

The United Kingdom recently clamped down on non-registered ATMs as its Financial Conduct Authority takes a tougher stance on Bitcoin ATMs due to a lack of regulatory structure.

Bitcoin ATM. Source: BitBase

For BitBase, a Spanish Bitcoin ATM provider seeking to operate in Portugal, the group has established physical outlets in Lisbon, but regulators have stalled official openings. In light of the EU’s “attack” on noncustodial wallets, the future of Bitcoin and crypto in the EU is uncertain.

Given that Austria will add 12 more Bitcoin ATMs to its total of over 110, the rollout of Bitcoin ATMs in Europe may just be getting started. 

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Shitcoins are ‘garbage’: Bitcoin-only brokers on freedom and finance

Bitcoin-only exchanges explain that selling altcoins is an attractive business model that sidesteps far greater long-term benefits for society, such as greater freedoms and financial prosperity.

In Europe, “Bitcoin only” is a growing trend, as more and more consumers and companies are hardening their resolve that Bitcoin (BTC) is the only digital asset worth holding. 

Bitcoin-only exchanges and brokers are places to stack sats, not “gamble” on Ether (ETH), or trade “garbage” that looks like “venture investments.” 

That’s according to the CEOs of major Bitcoin-only exchanges and brokers, including CoinCorner, FastBitcoins, Relai, Bittr, Pocket Bitcoin and Bitcoin-lyon. Cointelegraph spoke to the CEOs and founders of these European Bitcoin brokers to find out why they are Bitcoin only, and why you should build a company on this conviction.

The separation of money from the state

Firstly, according to Danny Brewster, CEO of FastBitcoins, “Bitcoin is our only hope of separating money and state; it is the one opportunity that we will have to accomplish such a feat.” It’s a once-in-a-generation — perhaps, lifetime — opportunity to pry the money printer from the government’s hands.

Bitcoin takes the belief in money out of the state’s hands, replacing it with math. Source: Bitcoin Visuals

Julian Liniger, CEO of Relai in Switzerland, builds on the notion, adding that Bitcoin is incomparable: “It is the only asset that is truly decentralized — i.e., has no leader or leading team — and, therefore, truly uncensorable and unseizable.”

Indeed, “digital scarcity can only be created once — i.e., the state of the world where no working cryptocurrency existed in 2008, can never be recreated, simply because Bitcoin exists today,” Ruben Waterman, CEO of Switzerland-based but Dutch-led Bittr, told Cointelegraph.

Brewster explains that for every new digital coin post-Bitcoin that is created, there is an inherent risk of government intervention:

“No government will ever let another network or technology gain as much traction as Bitcoin has accomplished ever again should Bitcoin fail.”

Jimmy Chambrade, co-founder of Bitcoin-lyon — the only exchange in France where you can buy Bitcoin with paper money — highlighted that while separating the money from the state is key, Bitcoin is a “Résistance” money. Fundamentally, “censorship resistance is essential to the freedom of individuals.”

He explained that France was founded on “liberté” or freedom, and the famous painting by Eugène Delacroix “Freedom Leading the People” is so well-loved that in an incongruous twist of fate, it featured on the 100 franc fiat banknote.

On Bitcoin adoption, Chambrade added that “philosophically speaking, Bitcoin allows the citizen to regain financial control and gain freedom.”

The “Freedom Leading the People” painting ironically features on the former French 100 franc banknote (center right). Source: NumisCollection

While the thread of freedom sews the Bitcoiner belief-system together, according to Matthias Koller, co-founder of Pocket Bitcoin, the underlying implications of separating the power of money creation from the government by using a “money that works the same and is equally accessible to everyone” are huge. It can “change the world,” said Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner.

Bitcoin will be “for the greater good, for ourselves and others in the long term,” Scott continued, stating:

“We’re here to change the world, not take money from gamblers.”

Belief in Bitcoin > Taking profit from people

Interestingly, the Bitcoin-only business model brandishes a concerted effort to avoid selling “garbage,” according to Brewster and Waterman, and what Scott calls “taking money from gamblers” for the purchase of altcoins or “shitcoins.” 

Every single Bitcoin-only exchange leader commented on the altcoin business model, lamenting the ease with which altcoin exchanges, such as Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini make “short term gains” by selling “as many shitcoins as possible.”

Waterman continued, explaining that the more trading that goes on in an app, the more trading fees are earned, the more revenue goes up. He understands that “it [altcoin sales] makes sense from a business point of view.” Incidentally, Coinbase makes most of its revenue from trading fees —something Strike’s Jack Mallers (another Bitcoin-only believer) has taken aim at in the past.

For the Bitcoin-only brokers, the belief in the long-term benefits of adopting Bitcoin far outweighs what Scott describes as “forfeiting short-term revenue by not adding the hundreds of altcoins.”

Brewster agreed, wielding a hardline view:

“We are also willing to forgo early and somewhat easy profits that we could make by providing customers with yet another altcoin/shitcoin casino, that distorts the public understanding of what Bitcoin is and why it even exists.”

Scott, who is technically Brewster’s neighbor, as both CoinCorner and FastBitcoins operate from the Isle of Man (a budding Bitcoin hotspot), suggested that “‘crypto exchange’ business models seem to be focused mainly around price speculation on cryptocurrencies. They appear to have lost their way and are no longer helping the wider adoption of Bitcoin as a currency.

Bitcoin adoption curve. Source: Bitcoin Visuals

Liniger added that they “want to be a savings app, not a speculation app. That‘s why Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency we support” — everything else is “speculation.” Or in Brewster’s view, non-Bitcoin projects are “noise, a scam, a distraction or purely speculative,” a way for insiders of a project “to dump on retail at the earliest opportunity.”

2021 was littered with examples of pump-and-dump schemes, cryptocurrencies that made up for poor utility with blockbuster marketing campaigns. The Squid Game Token went from $2,800 to effectively $0; memecoins flew before abrupt crash-landing; and spotting a “rug pull” has become a skill in its own right for traders.

Ultimately, Waterman is “totally fine” with “playing the long-term game at the expense of missing out on some short-term gains.”

Bitcoin is a savings technology

Store of value, digital gold or simply a saving technology, at the heart of each Bitcoin-only business is to make it easy and convenient for customers to buy Bitcoin. Waterman explained that “it should be easy and accessible to anyone in Europe to preserve their wealth and become financially independent from the banking system.”

Globally, Bitcoin has been gaining traction as what Michael Saylor calls a hedge against inflation, while Bitcoin’s deflationary monetary policy and its hard cap of 21 million are growing in appeal to Europeans due to the inflationary environment in the European Union and the United Kingdom.

“We believe that Bitcoin is the best way to save money in the 21st century, and we want to give everybody access to the world’s best savings technology,” Liniger told Cointelegraph. Koller, a Swiss compatriot, chimed in, “We want to help and encourage our clients to use a secure and hard form of money for their savings. One that is built on sound technology and policy.”

It’s that sound technology that separates Bitcoin from other crypto assets. Waterman explained how Bitcoin satisfies the blockchain scalability trilemma, an adequately cryptic phrase born out of the creation of Ethereum, but which Bitcoin seemingly satisfies. 

Bitcoin and the “scalability trilemma.” Source: Bitcoin Visuals
“Bitcoin has gained the most adoption; it’s the most secure network to move value over the internet; and it’s the most decentralized (as everyone can still run a Bitcoin node. Nodes are widely distributed across the world and Bitcoin cannot easily be changed, which is a feature, not a bug).”

Related: ‘How I met Satoshi’: The mission to teach 100M people about Bitcoin by 2030

For the bevy of Bitcoiners with whom Cointelegraph communicated, there was agreement on many aspects of Bitcoin, such as Chambrade’s “technical, commercial and philosophical,” reasons. Plus, their conviction in Bitcoin guides their business principles.

However, the tl;dr is that Bitcoin-only companies are laser(eye)-focused on selling Bitcoin to Europeans simply because it’s a better form of money. That’s why Brewster “point-blank refuse[s] to sell people garbage that is not going to enable Bitcoin to fulfill its potential.”

Leaving altcoin abuse to one side, Koller concluded:

 “There is no other form of money that comes anywhere close to what Bitcoin has to offer.”

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200 Bitcoin ATMs installed at Walmart… with plans for 8000 in total

Walmart plans to eventually install 8,000 Bitcoin ATMs in the U.S. and has installed 200 in a pilot program.

Walmart has partnered with coin-cashing machine company Coinstar and crypto-cash exchange CoinMe to install 200 Bitcoin ATMs in its stores across the U.S. 

Although the pilot includes only 200 kiosks, the broader launch plans to eventually see the installation of 8,000 bitcoin ATMs across the country, according to Bloomberg. There has been no further details on timelines as of yet.

According to Coin ATM Radar, there are currently over 25,000 bitcoin ATMs at select grocery stores and service stations in the U.S. Coinstar operates 4,400 kiosks enabled for Bitcoin purchases, across 33 states.

Chief strategy officer and head of research at BitOoda Sam Doctor told Bloomberg that while Bitcoin ATMs aren’t a new development, and can already be found at many supermarkets:

“Walmart expands Bitcoin access to more people, though, and gives it further legitimacy among skeptics, should they roll it out beyond an initial pilot.”

Customers can use the Bitcoin ATM by inserting a banknote and receiving a paper voucher with a redemption code. To redeem the code, customers need to then set up a Coinme account and complete a background check. Users cannot withdraw Bitcoin from their account, with no indication of plans to offer this functionality in the near future.

The Bitcoin ATMs have an 11% surcharge, comprised of a 4% fee for the Bitcoin option, plus an additional 7% cash exchange fee.

As a point of comparison, popular crypto trading platforms Binance and Coinbase charge 3% to 4.5%, and 3.99% for debit and credit card purchases respectively. It is free to make a direct deposit from a bank account to a Binance or Coinbase wallet.

The news was welcomed as a sign of mainstream adoption by some, including influencer Lark Davis who said “Wal Mart selling Bitcoin now... cool!” However other users complained about the high fees.

“BTC ATM fees are notoriously high plus the 'current' BTC price is always way higher when buying and lower when selling,” tweeted datcyberguy in response to the news.

“It's a ripoff, but at least it's a sign of adoption — they think some people might want BTC enough to pay huge fees,” commented Reddit user Axatar.

Related: Bitcoin Depot’s crypto ATMs surpass 5,000 as adoption grows

This isn’t the first sign of interest that Walmart has shown in the crypto world. In August, the retail giant announced that it was seeking a crypto product lead to drive the company’s digital currency strategy. The job listing has since been removed from Walmart’s website, but an advertisement for the role remains on Linkedin.

Walmart China has also teamed up with blockchain-based supply chain management platform VeChain to track products.

There was some skepticism over the Bitcoin ATM news however, which comes hot on the heels of a fake Walmart press release in September, which announced a partnership with Litecoin (LTC). The hoax briefly sent prices of the altcoin surging more than 20%.

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El Salvador ranks third in global Bitcoin ATM installations, data finds

The Salvadorian government has installed over 200 ATMs in September after adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender.

El Salvador now hosts the third-largest network of crypto ATMs after the United States and Canada, amounting to 70% of all crypto ATMs in South America.

According to data from Coin ATM Radar, El Salvador has exceeded United Kingdom’s crypto ATM count after deploying 205 crypto ATMs to date to facilitate local Bitcoin transactions and BTC to U.S. dollar conversions. 

Comparing this to Statista data from August 16, it becomes evident that El Salvador has successfully installed 201 ATMs in just one month. Beforehand, the country ranked 43rd on the list with just four functional crypto ATMs.

President Nayib Bukele had previously stated that Bitcoin’s adoption would be initially supported by  a network of 200 ATMs and 50 branches. The Salvadorean government has partnered with an in-house cryptocurrency wallet provider named Chivo to power the BTC wallets and ATM usage in the country.

Crypto ATM installations are at an all-time high around the world with 27,664 active machines, and 2,790 new machines being added in September. The increase in El Salvador’s ATM installation drive aligns with the recent presidential order that requires all businesses to accept payment in Bitcoin. However, the merchants retain the option to convert Bitcoin payments to USD before withdrawing their earnings.

While other jurisdictions are yet to decide on Bitcoin’s use case as a mainstream asset, an average of 63.7 ATMs continue to get installed globally every day. Genesis coin remains a leading crypto ATM manufacturer with a market share of 40.7%, while General Bytes and BitAccess represent 22.7% and 12.7% of the market, respectively.

Related: Protesters burn Bitcoin ATM as part of demonstration against El Salvador president

El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption has seen some resistance from locals, which recently led to the burning of a Chivo-supported Bitcoin machine. Those protesting adoption of Bitcoin highlighted concerns regarding uncertainty, price fluctuation and lack of exposure to the crypto market.

The Chivo kiosk is the government’s first attempt to create an infrastructure for BTC and U.S. dollar conversions. Currently, El Salvador uses both Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar as legal tender.

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