Bitcoin Forum

Cryptocurrency ATM company Bitcoin Depot has announced a long-term partnership with Circle K, a convenience store chain in the United States and Canada.
 Bitcoin Depot plans to install ATMs in "thousands" of Circle K convenience stores. Bitcoin Depot stated that its ATM machines enable users to exchange cash for cryptocurrency, allowing simple face-to-face transactions, giving users immediate access to Bitcoin and more than 30 other cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Depot has installed more than 700 Bitcoin ATMs in 30 states in the United States and Canada.

If it is more convenient for people to buy Bitcoin, will Bitcoin be more popular?
If you don’t know Bitcoin, and you see this ATM when you go to buy bread, do you buy Bitcoin with change?
If you didn't buy it this time, when you saw these ATMs elsewhere, would you be curious to buy some?

source (https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atms-to-invade-circle-k-convenience-stores)

I thought about how to reach another ATH.

One point I considered before is that if the way to trade Bitcoin is more convenient and easier to be accepted by ordinary people, then the price of Bitcoin will reach new heights.

It will be appropriate if the fees are low, no more data is required and fast & smooth process.
I expect that more people will buy Bitcoin because social media and TV channels are talking positively about this technology instead of linking it to the dark internet and drug dealers.

In general, the situation will not be so bad, with high inflation and low levels of interest. Many people may not prefer to keep cash.

It will take a long time for people to generally accept Bitcoin.
If you don't accumulate steps, you can't reach a thousand miles.

Glad you shared your views. I agree with you. The problems of transaction congestion and high handling fees need to be resolved as much as possible.

In addition, if people realize that holding Bitcoin is more valuable than cash, that would be a big improvement.The problem is that people haven't realized it yet. :-[

days ago i took $200 from my bank account to buy bitcoin, unbelievable that after i went through a long process to buy i finally bought bitcoin and guess how much bitcoin i got? I received the equivalent of $155 in bitcoin, it is not easy to buy bitcoin when you live in a country where the official currency is not US dollars and these hidden fees are a big headache, I was counting on at least I could have it. $180 in bitcoin, but I was only able to receive $155 in bitcoin


I wonder if there will ever be a day when rates will be low, maybe that day won't come, the trend Is fees will be high

This question doesn't really make sense on a bitcoin forum, isn't it?


Maybe, but not much.
There's a problem with lack of legislation in many countries for bitcoin.
There's a problem with banks and central banks being wary and issuing warnings about bitcoin (or even ban it in certain countries).
There's a problem with influential people telling that bitcoin is bad.
There's a problem with the big variations in bitcoin price, making it not suitable for everybody to invest.



You can't do that with your change. Exchange fees, withdrawal fees, ... they're too big and you will end up with nothing. So this use case is not feasible.

The reasons may be as follows:
1.Exchange losses.You convert your fiat currency into usdt, and then convert it into Bitcoin. There will be a loss due to the exchange rate in the middle.
2.Order price vs transaction price.The transaction price will be slightly higher than your transaction price.
3.When you buy, the price of Bitcoin drops.

Yes, I think so. One of the most common questions I've encountered from people who have yet to buy Bitcoin is where could it be bought. They have heard about Bitcoin, understood a little of what it is, but failed to get access to it. If only there were accessible ATMs and other more convenient options to buy, they would have already bought.


No, I won't. Why would I buy something I don't even know?


I probably won't, but I would surely be curious as to what is being sold in there.

I think any regulations or business model that ease people to buy bitcoin then it will make bitcoin more popular. In marketing make sure that the product is available in the market is important thing. Not only Cryptocurrency ATM but if there are department stores, restaurants, gas stations, stores,  and etc which provide bitcoin payment option for their customers then it will boost the growth of  adoption, and if it's even provide cryptocureency top up service for their customers then those companies will get more profit not only from their product but also profit from top up fee.

Bitcoin is already really really convenient for most people. I'd even go far as saying that downloading an app and buying bitcoin through it is significantly more convenient than going to a bitcoin ATM; at least for most people besides the older demographic.

A lot of people shunning out bitcoin is mostly due to ignorance and fear of volatility than the convenience of it.

It might be popular, but it doesn't mean it will add users. Bitcoin still has problems with scalability and efficiency as a retail store payment method. So, even though Bitcoin ATMs will be scattered everywhere, do not guarantee it will be widely used. What's more, the ATM is not a personal engine. I have never used it, but I keep the worries of solid traffic suddenly when using it. You can imagine if a long queue.

The convenience isn't the most important factor. Most Bitcoin ATMs charge a premium of at least 10%, at least in my area. That is likely going to turn away any potential Bitcoin buyers, and you're subjected to KYC anyways. If you are serious about purchasing Bitcoin, you'll more likely be interested in using a proper exchange that doesn't levy such high fees. Buying a tiny amount of Bitcoins (ie. a few dollars) is practically useless given the fees.

I never really got the point of ATM, after the surge in TX fees and the price. People looking to use Bitcoin for the long term just don't use ATMs at all.

Well, I think that removing or having less charge is going to be under the convenience umbrella so I think that if it's convenient to buy bitcoin, it would be more popular. I mean there's an app in my country where you can directly buy bitcoin with fiat through their apps and so far no complaints about the fees.

Obviously it would help if the problems with the banking system and all the KYC nonsense went away but I don't think it would help the adoption that much. The reasons why the adoption is growing this slowly is because:
1. The FUD and misinformation about bitcoin that has misled people for many years and can not be fixed overnight.
2. The fact that bitcoin is different from traditional currency and user has to handle everything including securing their money (private keys), handling transactions and fees, etc.
3. The volatile price specifically the sudden unreasonable big drops.

People won't just buy Bitcoins for $10, or anything below $100. The fees takes at least 10% of that, and transaction fees when sending to the address and from the address basically takes almost half of the Bitcoins that you've bought. Handling large amount of Bitcoins wouldn't be advisable for a Bitcoin ATM and using an actual bank account would be better. It would be fine if the ATM allows for LN or if the user absolutely needs privacy and they don't enforce KYC.

If bitcoin become legal all over the world and can be use in different ways of withdrawal and become available as well as payment methods perhaps it will become more convenient for all people to buy bitcoin as it has big advantages to the real fiat. But unfortunately people nowadays don't see the real difference when it comes such thing because of being lack of knowledge. But surely it will happen in the future because bitcoin adaption is increasing gradually everytime it makes ATH, and in fact some countries were using it as a legal tender, so i know it will become the key to make these thing convenient to use in the future.

Buying Bitcoin is not at all difficult if you wish to do so and According to me it's quite popular and becoming top most investment preference for many investors as exchanges have witnessed huge rush in transaction volume and user base.But who still think it's bad choice due to all these stupid FUD and all the manipulation find it difficult and stay away from it.But yes implanting Bitcoin ATM's at each corner would give boost to adoption but you should always take into consideration the fees and KYC because they can be a barrier to your investment.

Yeah, I believe that somehow it would. People would now naturally be seeing easy access to purchasing Bitcoin around them and the fact that they just have to be able to do this just by going for groceries at the store and having access is big in my opinion even though I don't suppose that big transaction will be going on through this ATMs. Even those that don't know what it is still would be curious to know, so again for me, it is also more of Bitcoin exposure to more people that's a plus with the ATMs.     

How can an ATM machine allow "face-to-face transactions"?
What about KYC policies?I don't think that the authorities would allow people to purchase Bitcoin thru ATM machines without ID verification.
The Bitcoin price would've been way higher,if Bitcoin purchases were easy and convenient.There's no doubt about that.The problem is that Bitcoin purchases will never be easy,cheap and convenient.

yeap，You got the point. Ignorance is the biggest obstacle. 8)
It is too difficult to change consciousness.
Wake-up will be a big project, not something that can be solved by simply adding a few machines.

Now many wallets can be traded, and you can also transfer money face-to-face, without kyc at all.

bitcoin will reach new ath is coming  ;D ;D ;D ;D it would be more great if accept not just bitcoin but also another crypto or stablecoin since bitcoin in my opinion can't be using for everyday transaction since fee getting high and time confirmation getting slow so other crypto would be great and i hope it will atm come to indonesia

I can imagine if there is no KYC required to use the ATM's the will attract a certain
amount of interest from people looking to transact with cash even with higher fees,
a small price to pay for a bit of anonymity.

If the transactions are easy and convienient it should attract more traffic and that
goes into the melting pot of users and transactions.

if people are safer buying bitcoins, what is. bitcoin is more popular, maybe my answer is definitely yes, actually there are many people who want to play in bitcoin, but ordinary people find it difficult to learn about bitcoin, if there is easy access to bitcoin, there are certainly many people who are involved in the crypto world, for now the government has banned the use of bitcoin, so ordinary people are afraid to play with crypto money, unlike us people who have been playing in bitcoin for a long time, they will definitely not be afraid anymore, whatever the risks that come they will definitely face.

anything that is safe to use and easy to find and for sure we can have advantages, of course many want to have it, especially bitcoin which definitely gives us freedom in all fields and can give us profits, it's clear everyone will buy bitcoin, the more people who buy bitcoin it is certain by itself bitcoin will be more popular,

now most of those who hold bitcoins can be said, middle to upper class people, and people who are good at playing on the internet, and it can be said that people who have gone to school, but if people who are middle to lower, of course no one plays in the crypto world, right? for no reason, middle and lower people don't believe in bitcoin because they are difficult to get access to, even if there were they would be difficult to learn about it all, but if it was more convenient for people to buy bitcoin, it is certain that many would buy and hold bitcoin , for sure bitcoin will be more popular than now..

if it is safer for people to buy bitcoin, it is certain that bitcoin will be even more popular, because we see now that our movements are restricted by the government, and china has banned bitcoin mining, so people who are not used to holding bitcoins are definitely afraid, but if accessing bitcoin easy, I'm very sure bitcoin holders will definitely increase, and definitely more popular..

Not that being too optimistic but we will get there and these days of price action will just be a blip on the charts for years to come. HODL as they say! Bitcoin isn't yet for day to day usage yet but we will be scalable in the future, fingers crossed.

That depends on the Bitcoin ATM company but most of these Bitcoin ATMs are either you need to sign up with them or you're using your credit or debit card, anonymity isn't secured here to be honest. Well, it will really never be easy if people are skeptical about their privacy in the first place. I think we are getting there on the convenience side because of the LN but on the cheapness and easeness that will depend on different occasions.

Bitcoin is started to be known by many, started to be popular in different countries. And buying bitcoin is already been convenient right now. Though centralized exchanges required some KYC but then it is still easy to buy bitcoin.

Also, those BTC ATM machines are increasing , people are being aware how those bitcoin works, how it can be use conveniently and how it can be transacted easily online. But then, there are always some disadvantage that could be some reason why people tend to disagree using it. As fees are higher and volatility is very active making them feel afraid to use it.

If I remember correctly, the number of ATHs in the US has increased to more than 28 thousand.  This number may still be inaccurate as the number of ATMs is constantly expanding.  In the digital age, when people expand their needs, overcome the backwardness, they can do their own research on digital media youtube....etc, maybe the difficulty is just the middle class and  Older people will be less likely to have exposure to or trust in bitcoin.  But it won't be long before bitcoin becomes even more popular, as part of their lives.

Of course it.goes back to each other's.opinions, especially now that many people are refused.to buy bitcoin, because it.can be.taxed $ 10 well it.will have a huge impact on someone who wants.to buy it.especially from.beginners, but for the level of popularity.we really admit.that.currently the crypto world has.a fairly.high level of.popularity compared.to other investments.without any new purchases.bitcoin will still be at its.level of.popularity

It is indeed convenient to buy bitcoin yet there are a lot of factors that is needed to be considered first before everyone gets encouraged to buy it. One is its volatility, we are all aware that bitcoin's value changes over time and buying is not always an ideal thing. Another is the possible fees that will be required before you can make a transaction, since bitcoin gives us financial freedom, it will make no sense to put too much fee granted by the government or any other organization. It will surely be a good help as the number of bitcoin ATM grows still we cannot expect everyone to buy bitcoin through it specially when there is a bull run going on.

no because the change wasnt mine but it was my parents money .
 i do groceries thats why  but even if its my money i think i will not buy imediately but i will got curious and do a research and probably try it the next time i go the same establishment .
nowadays loading up a wallet with btc is easy aswell all spending our btc but installing btc atm's can act as an advertisement and people will got curious and they will eventually try btc .

That can make bitcoin more popular because I think people will not have a problem buying bitcoin and can buy it from their places. With the ATM installing at many places, it makes it people easy to buy bitcoin. As long as they can see that ATM, they can directly buy it from that machine, but that will depend on how the local government regulates it for bitcoin. But I still want to use my usual way to buy bitcoin because I already feel comfortable with that way. Maybe later, I will try to buy bitcoin from that ATM.

Sort of agree. BTC ATMs seemed to not make sense to me when you considered the extremely high fees (10% or thereabouts). And then the same for Coinbase. But then I kept meeting people (Americans especially but then also English when Coinbase touched down there) who preferred using ATMs and Coinbase. Convenience is hugely underrated, at least I underestimated it.

If bitcoin is more convenient to buy, I don’t think its popularity would also follow. If the cryptocurrency does not serve any use-case for the people, then I don’t think they would even care buying or even looking at all. Most people still look for utility on what they buy, and investment only comes second. While it’s true that bitcoin becomes more and more known and accepted around the world, it’s still that there is very limited use to it currently.

According to me, if the ATM crypto in every country that will make every people become easier to know more about crypto. From didnt know about crypto, then become curios and finally try the ATM. The majority who will be the first is millenial because they have bigger curiousity than old people. 

Yes if Bitcoin were as easy as cash then yes it would be a lot more popular. I wish that companies start paying in Bitcoin because I think that is the next big step that is needed to make it more popular. I think the atms that are being placed around the world will help towards that to.

- There can be a little and this effort is just that, not very efficient nor increasing the space of bitcoin because online purchases for bitcoin have also reached a relatively good level, we have a lot easier access to bitcoin than in the past when exchanges provided the most convenient payments and become a neutral support service. Looking for more ease can only transact directly, face to face but in general, the amount of money is relatively high, no one wants to pile up cash and carry it out on the street like that, quite dangerous

Imo ATMs are something last century. Why use them with high fees, while everything can be done online with a PC or mobile phone? Faster and cheaper.

Also, attacks on people trying to withdraw from ATMs are not uncommon, and it is known that many criminals have this association that people who own cryptocurrency are rich, so separate crypto ATMs will be like a special label for them.

And the last but not least, ATMs all have built-in cameras, so that kind of spoils the whole anonymity feature.

If transaction fees are low, no more data is needed, and the process is fast and smooth, more people will choose to buy Bitcoin.
When people realize that holding Bitcoin is more valuable than cash, and people are more willing to buy and use Bitcoin, it definitely gives us freedom in all areas and can bring us profits.

Yeah I believe so but for me, I don't know how these Bitcoin ATMs work so say for someone that doesn't have Bitcoin before and wants to buy from one of these Bitcoin ATMs, would they automatically have a Bitcoin wallet created for them with their password or Keys? all those things that are linked to your Crypto wallets? or you must have had a wallet that your Bitcoin can be sent to after Purchase?
I believe that it is a good way of creating the necessary awareness for Bitcoin and agree with @Liamttw on this

It should be very popular, but I am still not used to paying with Bitcoin. To be honest, because Bitcoin is valuable, I still choose to continue to hold Bitcoin. If it is a daily payment, I think fiat currency is fine. It is more convenient to use Bitcoin for large transactions.
But in fact, what I want to ask is, if people buy bitcoin with fiat currency and then use bitcoin to buy things, why not buy things directly with fiat currency? Is there any discount?

Of course there's more people that will buy and use bitcoin if it's more convenient than what it currently is, it's not like everyone has the technical knowledge to access and use bitcoin as it is because we always have to assume that our clients are much dumber than average.

If bitcoin will be opened publicly, there's no ways for us to be curious in the first place because it eventually became the norm elsewhere. Once people find it more convenient to buy and own bitcoin as their most precious gem, then popularity kepts getting higher everyday. Talking about ATM machines that uses bitcoin withdrawal transaction, I guess it slowly providing awareness to every person who's still need education about virtual currency.

if people are comfortable buying bitcoin, will bitcoin be more popular?? maybe it can be said to be more popular, because all people can hold bitcoin, but if bitcoin is easy to trade, most likely the price will decrease, because it is easy to get anywhere, but it would be nice for now we make bitcoin as an asset, and big transaction, if fiat currency is very good we use it to spend our money everyday..

ATMs aren't necessarily more convenient than online exchanges. For one, they have high fees which, from what I've heard, can exceed 10%. Moreover, it means dealing with money on the street, so there's a risk of being robbed. Plus, if an ATM asks for some info you don't want to give, it will be harder to stop in the middle of the process of your card might be "chewed" by it. As for the more general question of convenience making it more popular, I think it's true. So its good when more options are available, it's just that I'm not sure ATMs are what we need.

The access for buying and selling at present is quite user friendly, but the same looks like a hard thing for people who doesn't have much knowledge using a computer. With the increase in the usage of smartphones, people have gained knowledge about the usage of wallets. This jas made a small group of people use cryptocurrencies with ease.

If bitcoin had access to be felt same as the paper money then bitcoin might be more popular than the present.

Most of the countries don't require KYC, if the amount involved is small, like $100 or $200. A lot of Bitcoin ATMs operate in countries such as US and Canada, and they never ask for KYC information unless the amount involved is higher than a certain threshold. Even the mainstream exchanges don't ask for detailed KYC, if your daily volumes are low. I don't have an account with Binance, but they will only ask for Basic Account Verification, if your daily withdrawal volume is less than $2,000 (please correct me if I am wrong).

I believe that since the pandemic, bitcoin has become more popular than it was a few years ago because people are more interested in making money now because of the pandemic, and the bitcoin price is also massive, making anyone wealthy, so people are curious about how to obtain one. We will greatly benefit from this, especially as the price rises. I'm just amazed at how popular Bitcoin has become these days; most people are now transistioning to the internet, and many people are familiar with cryptocurrency.

it's true as you said comrade, if only bitcoin was easy to use like fiat banknotes, most likely bitcoin would be more popular than now, even though bitcoin is still difficult for us to learn but now it can be said that there are many people who play in bitcoin, in when the pandemic hit the world, most people lost their jobs, that's where people started to turn to bitcoin, and try to learn bitcoin, and try to make money by playing in bitcoin.. although it's difficult but many people are familiar with bitcoin,

Convenience definitely plays a huge role in the opinion of people towards bitcoin. A huge number of the populace are well aware of bitcoin's existence courtesy of social media and various news outlets that give out updates regarding said cryptocurrency, but only a small handful are able to invest because of the fact that not everyone is knowledgeable in the manner of bitcoin acquisition, while some just don't think that bitcoin isn't just worth the extensive, and expensive process of acquiring it. Still, in the following years we expect bitcoin to become more accessible to the common Joe, so we could see a greater increase in the volume of investors and supporters. Fiat banknote literally took hundreds of years to become adopted, as technology and the human intelligence progresses, we may not need to wait that long to see bitcoin taking over the monetary scene. Just needs a catalyst that will spark people's interest towards bitcoin, and a much more accessible manner of acquisition for bitcoin.

Bitcoin has been popular in the world.
If this is so, of course, it will be more and more popular, not only popular but also more trusted and used by many more people in the world.

I will only buy what I know. If at that time I don't know about Bitcoin,I will not buy it for change except the only way buying is only by Bitcoin. However, if there is such an ATM, I will be curious and learn at first about what is Bitcoin.

Never force to buy something that you don't know yet. It is better to be curious and then learn it first.

Currently the development of btc is indeed good. Many people are interested in it but they haven't dared to enter into it for some reason. Some of the reasons that I catch from people who have not dared to join is that they are afraid of losing, because apart from hearing about the benefits of BTC, they also hear that many people have suffered losses due to several things. I mean, investing in btc is an option and it takes awareness and maturity to invest in it. If you are not sure and in doubt then it will only eliminate our assets. That is why btc investment is not an arbitrary investment that can be done anywhere and anytime by ordinary people because not everyone knows about it and not everyone has a mature thought except for people who are already familiar with the crypto world.

If they will just listen to the negative hearsays made by social media influencers and badly consider this as true happenings inside, definitely, they will also think negatively and have no interest in Bitcoin. But if you are just an open-minded person and to set aside that negativity but rather to know more about Bitcoin, there is a chance to understand clearly what this is really about and what is the truth.

However, even we have this slow market adoption, I'm still believing that Bitcoin will continue to grow and the mindset of the people around will change. In fact, the market growth of Bitcoin and its popularity is increasing and this is an indication that it certainly be growing.

If it is convenient then people will be using ATM, i am in the cryptocurrency market for a very long time and i will not go to an ATM to get my coins because the charges are crazy high and there are much cheaper alternatives to get the coins and if you have those alternatives why would you step out spend more money when i can get the same amount of coins using exchanges.

Suppose i am trying to purchase Bitcoin through ATM for the first time and once you see the charges you will not think about getting them again either.

I am like you who think that ATMs provide quite high transaction fees, so I prefer to use exchanges. After all, buying Bitcoin through exchanges is
easier for me, because I can do it on a smartphone that I use often. Meanwhile, if we want to use an ATM we need to step out of the house or even
the location of the ATM is far from where we live. So for me it is most convenient and effective to make Bitcoin transactions on exchanges compared
to using ATMs.

if you are comfortable buying bitcoin, it is certain that bitcoin will be more popular, because if it is easy to buy and sell it is certain that more and more people will hold bitcoin, but we often see it, when it is popular, the price will go down, if bitcoin like now is still a commodity rare, certainly bitcoin still has a high value..

If it is convenient to use Bitcoin, I will use Bitcoin (the transaction fee is relatively low and there will be no congestion). However, the popularity of Bitcoin is far from enough. There are still many people who don’t know Bitcoin or how to use Bitcoin. And many places do not allow Bitcoin to be used.
If Bitcoin becomes a global daily payment method, there are still many problems that need to be overcome.
If the usage rate of Bitcoin increases, then Bitcoin will become more and more popular. If it is easy for people to hold and spend Bitcoin, then the price of Bitcoin will also become lower and lower.

Now more is the role of advertising. Anyway, I think this is a good way of publicity.

I dont think that convenience is the main factor why people buy Bitcoin, how ever, it is on rather high positions. It is convenient to buy Bitcoin using ATMs or with a single tap from mobile app, however, people still think 2-3 times before they buy.

I think that the only factor that makes Bitcoin popular is "quick and easy" profit. Because people still see only this behind the word Bitcoin, but they dont care about the technology or possibilities it provides.

Crypto currency is one of the best and new innovation in the world. Bitcoin is the pioneer of this invention so people who have the knowledge about crypto currency market i think they have the better knowledge about bitcoin. There are more people are involving day by day in the crypto currency world so who have the money for hold they are trying to buy and hold bitcoin. So i think if it is more convenient to buy bitcoin then people will be mostly attracted to buy bitcoin then price of bitcoin will grow and will be more popular.

If it is convenient and allowed to buy Bitcoin, the transaction fee is low and the transaction is fast, it will be very popular. As more and more people enter the crypto market, buying cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin will make it very easy for the crypto world to grow so fast.
It is the legal currency transfer and withdrawal of cash that need to go to the ATM for operation, and Bitcoin can be traded through the network, which is very convenient and safe. As people's consensus strengthens and demand increases, and Bitcoin usage increases, it will become more and more popular.

When I purchased Bitcoin for the first time (January 2017), it was extremely difficult to do that. None of the mainstream exchanges would accept fiat deposits from my country. After a few days searching about it, I was finally able to purchase BTC using one of the P2P platforms. But times have changed. Now there are multiple cryptocurrency exchanges that are based in my country and it is quite easy to link the bank accounts and make direct purchases. And even in P2P platforms, the number of traders have increased by a lot.

No one who is already in the cryptocurrency market will use an ATM unless you want to safe guard your privacy while holding the coin as you can purchase the coin without any KYC for a limited amount and you can do that process multiple times but the fees are higher while using them than using a regular exchange.

Majority are here to make profits in a short period of time hoarding the coins rather than using it as a payment method, i still use them to purchase anything online because i am not confident to use my credit card to purchase online and hence Bitcoin is a good alternative.

Yes, I strongly believe that if it is made more convenient for people to buy bitcoin, it will greatly affect the adoption the bitcoin in the mainstream world and ultimately affects the price.
One of the ways for this to happen would be that transaction fees are made low and super affordable.  Another way would be that one can buy bitcoin at almost anywhere which is why I greatly anticipate the move by Germany to make banks use and sell bitcoin. It would make adoption of bitcoin skyrocket in the mainstream world.

Not all ATMs allow to make purchases without KYC. There are some that ask to enter your mobile number, and then a code that you will get as an sms. Such ATM owners have user data bases and can easily match a buyer with a mobile operator. And then it is a piece of cake to find a person in IRL.

But you are right about high fees. They kill or the necessity to use ATM. For me Bitcoin ATMs are like expensive billboards with an option to buy the product immediately.

I'm sure if ATMs were allowed to be used in public areas, gas stations, airports, etc., it would become more common.  Like billboards, bitcoin ATMs will create curiosity, learn and start trying to use, buy and sell bitcoin through those stations. 
Although, not every country is licensed and accepted to do that.  The US remains the largest provider of bitcoin ATMs.  If my country has ATM support for bitcoin, I will definitely try a small sample.  Lol

I believe it would have, imagine being able to buy btc in any online or offline store or buy items with btc in every offline store and other service places, btc will be more popular than it already has, even right now with all the many limitations and restrictons btc still manage to strive hard, became popular in the midst of all odds, manage to attract the interest of many people, btc will definately be more popular.

if people are more comfortable buying bitcoin, is bitcoin more popular,,, most likely yes, because basically bitcoin is difficult to get, the government also forbids us to use bitcoin, in fact until now our movement is limited by the government, the government makes it difficult for us, to invest in bitcoin..

100% yes Bitcoin is difficult to purchase because at the moment you are required to give KYC which stops people from buying because people do not want to give their personal information to use Bitcoin and with Bitcoin not being anonymous but pseudonymous in the future governments could ask the exchanges to release the KYC and identify every address on the blockchain that has been used with a exchange.