Cointelegraph
Arijit Sarkar
Written by Arijit Sarkar,Former Staff Writer
Ana Paula Pereira
Reviewed by Ana Paula Pereira,Staff Editor

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

Since January, Bitcoin ATM installations have seen a gradual slowdown, eventually falling 89.75% from December 2021’s 1,971 new installations.

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

Bitcoin (BTC) ATM installations across the globe have seen a steep decline throughout the year 2022, with May recording just 202 new BTC ATMs, a range last seen three years ago in 2019.

Since January, Bitcoin ATM installations saw a gradual slowdown, eventually falling down 89.75% from December 2021’s 1,971 new installations. However, data from Coin ATM Radar reveals an evident comeback in the installation numbers, as the world saw 817 Bitcoin ATMs installed in June — in just the first five days.

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

Some of the key factors contributing to the slowdown of crypto ATM installations include geopolitical tensions across the world, unclear or anti-crypto regulations, market saturation and business impact due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Coin ATM Radar’s data confirms that the United States is home to 87.9% of the total 37,826 crypto ATMs worldwide. Europe houses a network of 1,419 ATMs, representing 3.8% of the global ATM installations.

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

Crypto ATM manufacturer Genesis Coin maintains its position as the leader in terms of the market share, representing 41% of the total operational crypto ATMs across the globe. Other manufacturers with prominent market share include General Bytes (21.6%), Bitaccess (16%), Coinsource (5.4%) and Bitstop (4.7%).

Related: Bitcoin Lightning Network capacity crosses 3,900 BTC, marking a new ATH

While real-world challenges may have a momentary impact on Bitcoin’s physical expansion via ATMs, at its core, the Bitcoin network continues to outperform its previous records in securing, decentralizing and speeding up the impenetrable peer-to-peer network.

Cumulative Bitcoin capacity across all channels. Source: BitcoinVisuals node

As Cointelegraph reported based on data from Bitcoin Visuals, the Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) capacity attained an all-time high of 3,915.776 BTC — further improving BTC transaction speeds and reducing fees over the layer-2 protocol. The Bitcoin LN was first implemented into the Bitcoin mainnet in 2018 to address Bitcoin’s infamous scalability issues.

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