Two unknown persons tried yesterday to rob a Bitcoin ATM in a store located in Kelowna, Canada, for which they took a vehicle and crashed it into the establishment. The attack took place at night, and they failed to rob the ATM.
The event caused large material losses for the affected premises, as Kelowna police indicated that the exterior of the property suffered extensive damage by criminals.
The authorities’ report details that the criminals were only interested in the Bitcoin ATM, as the investigation details that beyond the destruction, they did not steal anything of value from the affected premises.
Although many people could claim ignorance on the part of criminals believing that by taking the ATMs they could get hold of the bitcoins stored there, the authorities emphasize that this hypothesis is not entirely true, since many of these devices admit payments with money in cash, and this would be the main interest of people who have carried out similar deeds elsewhere.
Cashiers and other crimes
On the other hand, beyond the criminals who try to steal this type of device, authorities in various countries expressed their concern about the increase in the number of operational devices.
In this regard, they assure that these devices became a vehicle for criminals to access digital currencies, especially since KYC measures and money laundering are insufficient to stop the operations of those who try to legitimize capital.
Information published by CoinATMradar indicates that there are almost 10,780 operating devices around the world, with the US being the country with the largest number of devices (8,694 units), followed by Canada with about 900 functional devices.
The boom of Bitcoin ATMs around the world.
Bitcoin ATMs are still a boom, and this is the year that boom is at its peak. Today crypto ATM volume surpassed 10,000 (in fact, at the time of writing, it is 10,025).
However, this growth is relative, given that the development and propulsion of ATMs are not the same in all parts of the world and is, if you will, proportionally very unfair.
The United States far exceeds the other countries and has almost 80% of the pieces of the cake: there are currently a total of 7,914 ATMs in that country, while the second on the list, Canada, has 877 ATMs, and the next, UK, 281.
Undoubtedly, there is great inequality, which can appear in case the continents are analyzed. While the North American subcontinent has 85.6% of the world’s ATMs, Europe has 12.2%, Asia 1.3%, South America 0.6%, Oceania 0.2%, and Africa 0.1%.
By: Jenson Nuñez.
