Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin Depot, one of the largest cryptocurrency ATM firms in the United States, has announced the closing of a merger deal allowing the company to go public.

In a June 30 announcement, fintech firm GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corporation said its stockholders had approved the merger for the firm to act as a special purpose acquisition company for Bitcoin Depot. The deal, first reported in August 2022, cost $885 million and is expected to allow investors exposure to Bitcoin Depot on the Nasdaq starting July 3.

According to Bitcoin Depot founder and CEO Brandon Mintz, the merger deal was aimed at supporting “numerous growth opportunities” and promoting the adoption of Bitcoin

in North America. Investors will be able to find shares of Bitcoin Depot under the ticker symbols BTM and BTMWW for its common stock and public warrants, respectively.

The announcement came amid regulatory scrutiny of firms in the U.S. offering crypto products or services. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed lawsuits against exchanges Binance and Coinbase for alleged unregistered securities offerings. However, investment vehicles with exposure to crypto also seem to be on the rise following BlackRock filing an application in June to list a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Founded in 2016, Bitcoin Depot is one of the biggest crypto ATM firms in North America, with more than 9,130 locations, according to its website. In May, fellow ATM provider Bitcoin of America announced it would shutter operations in Connecticut following the state’s Department of Banking saying the firm didn’t have the proper licensing... NEWS SOURCE (https://www.zionie.com/read/crypto-atm-firm-bitcoin-depot-will-go-public-on-nasdaq-starting-july-3)

Bitcoin Depot or BitDepot?

I only found BitDepot when I typed Depot at https://coinatmradar.com/manufacturers/
BitDepot cryptocurrency/cash exchange service provider (https://coinatmradar.com/manufacturer/121/bitdepot-crypto-service-provider/)

From the logo I think iit is not BitDepot which is actually one of biggest Bitcoin ATM manufacturers.

Because it is not BitDepot, the article is an amplification of Bitcoin Depot which is not one of largest cryptocurrency ATM firms.

Wow so it actually is going to go live.

For those that don’t know. This was announced like last Summer and was posted on the nasdaq website so it was a legit source. And then it seems like it went nowhere but it’s good to know that it’s actually going live.

With everything going on with CEX, many will simply go to an old fashioned Bitcoin ATM as long as the fees aren’t crazy.

This is great news, I have seen many great news related to Crypto and Bitcoin in general that I am sure Bitcoin is about to hit $40k ranges very soon unless someone does something wrong. **rolling eyes on Binance/CZ**

Also, these ATMs will give more power to the decentralized users and will provide an instant conversion to real world money. This is great.
Let's see how their stock does in the upcoming weeks.

I don't think getting listed on Nasdaq will drive the Bull market. What we are seeing is just the effects of ETF and if one of them gets approved you can expect Bitcoin to hit 40k.

Crypto/Bitcoin ATM does help in Bitcoin adoption but they are not the best place to buy or sell Bitcoin. The reason being high transaction fees, less to nil security and you might also face technical issues. It is better to use exchanges rather than ATM.

The decision for cryptocurrency firms to go public can have both benefits and drawbacks. Going public can increase the visibility and legitimacy of the cryptocurrency industry, attracting attention from mainstream investors and regulators. It also allows firms to raise capital for expansion and innovation.

Publicly traded companies are subject to regulatory requirements, which can enhance transparency and governance within the industry. However, going public may lead to increased regulation (which many people don't want), potentially compromising cryptocurrencies' privacy and decentralization principles.

It's a lot to think about.

It drives adoption as pakhitheboss said but to me it is still in minimal number because most of bitcoin enthusiasts are core privacy driven people, and these ATMs do not guarantee that because apart from them being a physical entity they also sometimes ask for identification of the person. Also there fees are generally higher than the other methods of getting bitcoin except otherwise the mempool is congested which I think it also affects them. As for the speed they aren’t faster as people point it out just a little bit than the usual way, because they would still generate transaction ID for you to wait or later get the confirmation. Aside the only advantage of using cash to buy bitcoin from it, there isn’t any too great advantages it has.

That depends very much on whether they have to complete KYC in order to trade with them. I just searched and I see that you can trade without KYC below certain limits, but they don't specify which ones.

If this is not the case, this type of ATMs have no future, because they have high fees. The main reason why people pay these fees is to do it without KYC.

Where did you get this conclusion from? As far as I'm aware, there are a lot more users who are fine with KYC and stuff like that. If you're talking about most users in this forum, I can see that. But I doubt the average joe values privacy more than flexibility.

That being said, not really sure it will impact any adoption. As far as I can understand it, this is basically a listing on an exchange. If the company has no plan to add more ATMs or something similar, I don't think the listing matter that much. CMIIW.

This is going to be an interesting development to the bitcoin community because they will find more features of interest in using them, but i thing i consider is the growth rate of bitcoiners using bitcoin ATM which seems to me not yielding more increase compared to when it was firstly introduced, maybe this is happening due to the charges or cost of using one or the accesibility challenges people have in locating one, but nevertheless this is going to be a push for more utilization of bitcoin ATM especially in areas where it's predominantly available.

The concept of Bitcoin ATMs is great, but only as long as you can use them without KYC requirements. In such case, customers who care about privacy could accept relatively high fees. Otherwise I see no real purpose in using ATM, if you could just use an online exchange instead, as the ATMs would always have higher fees i.e. due to the costs of maintenance and electricity.

Well, It may not be the biggest, but it can be referred to as one of the biggest - with over 9,000 locations worldwide. Secondly, the search engine you used, is actually not globally recognized and does not have enough data to give such accurate information about what you are looking for. So, try the search again using Google.

I don't know about any Bitcoin ATMs, that currently require KYC verification in order to be used by the people. ;D
I was never really a fan of Bitcoin ATMs, because I never felt the  need to use one(and there aren't any Bitcoin ATMs in the city where I live).
Bitcoin/crypto is more convenient 100% online and without having to visit a certain place outside of your house.
Congratulations to this company for going public and I really hope that the fees for using a Bitcoin ATM will drop severely in the future.

I've never even actually heard of anyone using a Bitcoin ATM haha. But i suppose people must use them since there are various bitcoin ATM companies like this one. Always just seemed like a bad way to buy Bitcoin, given that the fees seem horrible. And you also probably wouldn't be buying much Bitcoin at an ATM. Though I suppose if you're just buying a little bit at a time, and if you can do it anonymously, and you don't mind the fees and consider it just an extra cost for being anonymous, then maybe it's worth it for some people.

I don't know how they work, like does each ATM transaction give you bitcoin in a different address, or can you specify the address where you want the Bitcoin? Cuz if it is the former that would make it much less useful. But if you can like DCA Bitcoin a little bit at a time at an ATM to a single address anonymously and just pay the extra ATM fees to get that anonymity then that's a fairly legit use case.

I agree with you, even though KYC can harm privacy, many people will do it in transactions and maybe out of necessity and not much choice. For example, when using a centralized exchange that requires someone to complete KYC and there are lots of people doing it, except when talking to people on forums like you said. Talk about privacy and flexibility depending on who we talk to, but KYC can indeed jeopardize privacy and that we all agree on.

There may be an impact on adoption but not too big, even I also think that at some point they will evolve towards exchanges and ATMs will only apply within the scope of the United States. But they will definitely try to catch up with users in the online system.

Bitcoin ATMs might not be the perfect means of buying or selling bitcoin because of high fees and KYC but this development is a good one for the sector. Any positive news in the industry can reduce FUD and increase FOMO. This step by Bitcoin Depot will increase the establishment of more ATMs thereby giving people more access to cryptocurrencies. At least more people will become aware that Bitcoin is a currency.

Most people prefer convenience and don't care about privacy. This is why the majority of trade that happens in the crypto market is through centralized platforms. Some people will tell you that they have nothing to hide, so anybody can have access to their details. This perception is caused by ignorance.

Yes the fees are high, but they are convenient.
Let's never forget that and since they do take & dispense cash even though they are not anonymous they can help the unbaked get into crypto.

Need to buy BTC but don't have a bank account or debit card. You have either have to do a P2P trade which some people may be uncomfortable doing OR figure out anther way to get cash to someone. But with this you put cash in and get BTC out.

AND unlike a lot of P2P traders they do have low limits.

Looking at BISQ and RoboSats and LocalCryptos and a few others the people that accept cash by mail or P2P all have higher limits. So just doing $50 is not always an option.
If you are meeting someone there is the cost of gas & time & whatever. Want to securely mail someone $200 in cash fine, but mail with tracking costs a few $ and then you have to wait a couple of days. Or you just pay $110 for $100 in BTC and be done in a couple of minutes.

Not perfect, but it is what it is.

Anyone buying? I was thinking of picking up some shares for my IRA.

-Dave

So this actually good news but the question is are they have the license and are regulated because last time I know Binance.US and Coinbase are legal entities but out of nowhere gov is try to sue both of them hahaha.

Bitcoin is unstoppable, to be honest and governments are trying to regulate it since they know first maybe can disrupt the economic or they see an opportunity from the bitcoin itself.

Anyway, Bitcoin ATM is great for the growth of bitcoin especially if this happen not in the US only.

I just looked up Bitcoin Depot and on their website it says you need to put in your phone number for verification, as well as your name and email address, and depending on the amount you are purchasing you may need to scan your ID as well.

So it seems even at the ATM you can't buy anonymously, though I suppose you could use a burner phone number, just make a random email address for this use, and give it a fake name and see if that works, as long as you stay under the $ minimum that requires scanning your ID.

Website doesn't seem to say how much the fees are, though I found another article that said average fees at Bitcoin ATMS tend to be like 20-25%, which is crazy.



I really wonder how many people use Bitcoin ATMs. It would seem to me to be a fairly niche use case. I gotta imagine these ATMs don't get much use. If they had much lower fees, and assuming you can do what I wrote above about staying anonymous, then ATMs would have much more of a use case.

It becomes confusing when Binance and Coinbase are attacked by the SEC as an authorized regulatory body, instead, Bitcoin ATM will be released soon. Supporting or not, of course, they have thought about it and most importantly they get benefits from Bitcoin.

The government has made efforts to fully regulate Bitcoin, but look at what is happening now, Bitcoin cannot even be fully touched.
But about the impact that occurs maybe only a decline but will recover again as it is today.

Bitcoin ATMs have been widely spread around the world that support Bitcoin. in the US there are also Bitcoin ATMs but some are also not operating.
There may be feature updates from Bitcoin Depot which will be launched on Nasdaq on July 3.

The bitcoin ATMs seem to be accumulated in some specific countries as per the coinatmrader website and I guess that follows the local government rules and regulations. I would like to see them come to more countries but I guess this will follow the same order as western companies did gradually moving to eastern countries.

I do feel encouraged to see such news come up, hopeful that in future I can at least wake up to see a bitcoin ATM in my neighborhood grocery store and people use that regularly without law enforcement breathing down their necks.

Good or bad, this instills hope for such a future and criticism and finer points being kept aside, I hope this project goes ahead and makes a name for itself.

Makes perfect sense especially the market's wild price swings, potentially affecting its stock value and investor sentiment. However, this could at least signal a shift in the way traditional financial institutions and investors view the crypto industry, which will lead to increased interest in and investment in the sector today .

Sure, but if convenience is your goal, then your best bet is probably to ditch crypto altogether and stick entirely to fiat.
The appeal of ATMs is/was the ability to exchange fiat/crypto anonymously (if cash is accepted), something rather hard to do when exchanging online.

I've never used Bitcoin Depot's ATM before, but a quick google search shows that they allow btc purchases with physical cash and require phone verification + email, so something that doesn't necessarily have to be linked to anyone's real identity. For this reason I expect they might face some regulatory problems in the future, given the global tendency to crackdown on anonymous transactions.

Their debut was quite successful though, with 12% rise of the stock price:
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/07/03/crypto-atm-operator-bitcoin-depot-debuts-on-nasdaq-following-spac-merger/

Yep, its already spread if the company really going to the Public they will get "fresh cash" from the Initial Public Offering maybe they can even expand more. But I hope a company like this expanding to outside the united states

For example, it would be great if they can expand to our home country Indonesia right  ;D, I think bitcoin is fully comply to government rule since the function is only buy and sell right

Coinatmradar.com is a famous website about Cryptocurrency ATMs.

I am surprised when I did not find Bitcoin Depot at coinatmradar.com. More surprised as Bitcoin Depot has 9000+ ATMs.

They have a blog post about Bitcoin Depot
https://coinatmradar.com/operator/220/bitcoin-depot-bitcoin-atm-operator/

But at the manufacturers page, no information about Bitcoin Depot ?
https://coinatmradar.com/manufacturers/

Difference between operator vs manufacturer?

LoL, that would just be a dream, Bitcoin alone is not fully recognized yet. We are still lucky to be able to trade Bitcoin in Indonesia and not be completely banned.

Expecting Bitcoin ATMs to be present again like the one that once existed on the island of Bali, it will only be a discourse that will not be realized because it collides with Regulations.

The government must have full control of Bitcoin ATMs and benefit from the taxes that will be applied.
Of course, the tax will be expensive and this will be a profit field.

Bitcoin ATM distribution is significantly influenced by the state of the law in the area. There will be a change in availability and acceptance of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as their validity grows, in my opinion. Seeing Bitcoin ATMs pop up all over town is an exciting prospect for the future. In all seriousness, this would be a huge step toward making Bitcoin transactions commonplace. It is crucial to maintain optimism despite the fact that we recognize the legal and regulatory difficulties that such endeavors confront. There are many others who share your excitement for Bitcoin, and we can all work together to keep bolstering efforts to spread the currency.

Well done Brandon Mintz, I spoke with him a few times, I could never win their business when I was providing the internet services to BTM machines they have a family friend connection or something of that nature. Needless to say I think it is a huge win having BTMs hitting the NASDAQ! He will get a nice pay out for sure. On the other piece about Bitcoin of America those guys ignored demands from the SEC to cease and decist operations in states where they tightened up on regulations and they just kept everything as is and never did anything about it. Operators like that have it coming to them regulators are putting down the hammer on these services as of late. Other operators better have proper Anti Money Laundering and Know Your Customer policies in place now!!! If not then expect to see more of those. I think the biggest player now is Genmega/Bitstop who just merged. They are  about to take over CoinCloud, RockitCoin, and I think one other. Saw Drew Barnard at B23 and the future looks very promising in the space.  

That is of course true but also depends on the wealth of the nation as well. When you have it on the USA or western nations you know that people have the money for it and they will use it, you can use it on lower income nations as well, but would you do it on Somali even if they allowed it? Like let's assume Somali as a government ended up making bitcoin legal, even further, made it legal tender, would you put an ATM there? Of course not, why? Because they are a poor nation, it will not bring you much profit.

This is why it is important to remember that we are going to end up with a problem one way or another, it just has to be a different approach eventually and you will do much better on the long run and it will give you some profit in bigger economy nations.