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Another type of ATM is setting up shop in your local supermarket.
These machines look like traditional bank kiosks, but offer customers the option to purchase bitcoin in cash.
Bitcoin ATMs, or BTMs, exploded in popularity between 2020 and mid-2022, at the height of the crypto craze. According to Coin ATM Radar, there were a total of 34,000 BTMs in the US at their peak.
More and more people are using Bitcoin ATMs to send money at lightning speed. A study of Bitcoin depot, the company with the largest share of BTMs in the US, found that two-thirds of their customers use the machines for money transfers and online purchases. But these machines have also developed a reputation as vehicles for crime. Scammers can send their victims to these kiosks to take advantage of the faster transaction speeds.
Watch the video above to learn more about what’s driving the BTM boom, why these machines attract crime, and how prosecutors plan to fight back.
