New Delhi: The number of Bitcoin ATMs has plunged by nearly 7,000 to date, even after witnessing a fresh start by the crypto world in 2023, a new report revealed on Wednesday.
After reaching an all-time high of over 39,100 in December 2022, the number of Bitcoin ATMs has been continually falling over the past ten months, according to AltIndex.com.
The CoinATMRadar data showed more than 1,500 ATMs supporting digital coins were removed in January, revealing the first signs of a negative trend.
March saw an even bigger drop, with the number of Bitcoin ATMs falling by nearly 3,600 that month alone.
After more than 2,300 new machines were added to the global Bitcoin ATM network in May and June — July brought the worst drop in 2023, the report said.
As per the statistics, more than 4,000 Bitcoin ATMs were removed in July alone, the highest number in the market`s history.
Since then, roughly 500 new Bitcoin ATMs were added to the market, but their total number remained at around 32,500, the figure last seen in December 2021.
Although the US counts the highest number of crypto ATMs, most of the removed Bitcoin ATMs this year till now were from the US market.
As per the report, US citizens could use over 26,700 crypto ATMs last week, down from 34,200 in December 2022.
However, the US still has 18 times more Bitcoin ATMs than Europe, which had around 1,500 of these machines last week, practically the same as in December.
Asia has by far the smallest number of ATMs supporting cryptocurrencies, or less than 350, the report mentioned.
Analysed by manufacturers, General Bytes remains the largest Bitcoin ATM producer globally, with a 32.6 per cent market share in October.
Genesis Coin ranked as the second-largest manufacturer with a 22 per cent market share.
BitAccess and Bitstop follow with 21.3 per cent and 8.3 per cent market shares, respectively.
–IANS