Imagine having the chance of acquiring Bitcoin in your local store instead of having to enter the digital platform. Of course, the latter may still be the easiest alternative, but for some people, it still represents an entry barrier to the cryptocurrency investment world.
Thankfully Coinme, which is a US-based Bitcoin ATM operator, will make things easier for everybody. The firm has reached an agreement with Coinstar to sell Bitcoin at its coin counting kiosks, according to a press release on January 17th.
The Rise and Popularity of the So-Called BTMs
Coinme is a well-known entity in the field, having been the first “BTM” operator to be granted a license in America back in 2014. The company, according to reports, is going to add thousands of locations via the initiative, which happens to have seen integrations go live by now.
“Bitcoin is now accessible at your local grocery store via Coinstar kiosks, and this offering will make it even easier for consumers to participate in this dynamic new economy,” were the words of Neil Bergquist, the CEO,
The alliance with Coinstar is crucial the Coinme’s concept. The former offers coin to cash conversion stands in a number of countries around the planet. It has considerable worldwide reach and penetration.
Offering Value to Customers
Coinstar CEO Jim Gaherity did not hide its happiness after the announcement of the pact, saying that the company “is always looking for new ways to offer value to our consumers when they visit our kiosks.”
Coinstar is known around the field for owning and managing nearly 20,000 fully-automated self-service coin-counting kiosks in nine nations. Through the alliance, people will be able to sell their BTC in exchange for US dollars in devices that will be mostly located in American supermarkets and stores.
There are no precise details as to whether the Bitcoin feature will be international or if it will only be available in the United States. Neither Coinme or Coinstar precised the number of machines that will offer the feature.
The number of “BTMs” (the contracted form to refer to Bitcoin ATMs that the industry has adopted in recent times,) as of Friday, was 4187 in the planet. Out of that total, around 60 % of them, or 2516, were in the United States of America. The data is provided by CoinATMRadar, a widely known monitoring tool.
An Accelerated Growth Rate
The fact that a sizable number of operators are vying for control of the BTM industry tells an evident story: the feature is growing at an accelerated rate, as it represents a popular way to increase the usage of cryptocurrencies in several locations.
The BTM feature will, reportedly, be a multi-million field by 2023, being projected to constitute a $144.5 industry in that timeframe. However, one of the primary challenges of BTMs are fighting and preventing malware attacks: they are prone to suffer from dedicated threats, according to different researches investigating on the matter.
By Andres Chavez
