Bitcoin ATM network records largest monthly decline with over 3,600 ATMs shutting down

Even though the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies is gradually growing globally, the year 2023 has seen a rare decline in Bitcoin ATMs installation. Coin Atm Radar, which tracks the net number of crypto ATMs worldwide, depicts that around 5,500 crypto ATMs went offline during the first three months of 2023.

Major crypto ATM installation decline in history

Per data shown on Coin Atm Radar, the previous month of March saw over 3600 Bitcoin ATMs going offline throughout the globe. This is the largest number of crypto-ATM removed from the network, leaving 33,727 ATMs active behind. 

While January and February also saw a meager decline in the growth of ATM installations. About 1,587 and 275 crypto ATMs went offline in the initial two months of 2023, respectively.

Ever since the first bitcoin and cryptocurrency ATM was deployed in October 2013 in Vancouver, Canada, the crypto world saw a slow but steady growth in the number of ATMs installed around the globe. Especially in the previous two years, from December 2020 to January 2022, the average number of ATMs installed was more than 1500 monthly. As shown in the chart below.

Source: Coin ATM Radar

As highlighted above, the crypto ATM machines installation never declined except in September 2022 and the previous three months, indicating its steady growth over the period of 9 years. 

This sudden drop in ATM installations could be purely due to a prolonged bear market, revenue losses, tensions among countries, and experiments carried out for cheap alternative operations by service providers. For instance, Bitcoin Depot, an ATM operator, modified its machines to BitAccess software recently, in hopes to curtail the software licensing fees.

The ongoing month of April, however, seems to have broken the three-month-long downward trend in this regard. According to the data shown at Coin ATM Radar, 39 new physical ATMs have been installed in different locations. Notably, General Bytes, Genesis Coin, and BitAccess are at the moment among the top crypto ATM manufacturing providers.

Bitcoin ATM manufacturer General Bytes to compensate the recent hack’s victims

The Prague-based bitcoin ATM manufacturer, General Bytes announced last week that it will compensate its customers’ losses. General Bytes met with a security hack between March 17 and March 18, when a cybercriminal successfully stole its clientele’s sensitive information like funds, passwords, and private keys from their hot wallets. 

After the investigation, the platform identified 21 hot wallets, which were connected to the hacker, stole away almost 56 BTC  and 22 Ether worth around $1.5 million and $3700, respectively.

General Bytes issued a statement promising to take necessary steps to ensure its customers’ privacy and prevent such mishaps from happening again in the future