I think it is time for a yearly update:
CoinATM 2019 EOY stats update: 6297 crypto ATMs installed worldwidePlease first read my last update (one year ago) as this post is a follow-up from there:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178336.msg48796571#msg48796571As "predicted" this year it was not possible anymore to reach another doubling in Bitcoin ATM's installed but a more linear growth resulting in an 50% increase. Even tho it is still an impressive milestone of continuous growth that reflects maturity. More than 2000 newly installed crypto ATM's during an otherwise slow year.
Also, the rate of installations have accelerated during the past couple of months and could account for another easy 50% increase (3000+ new ATM's) for next year if all other factors remain constant.
The current density of ATM's worldwide is reaching very good levels. Main capitals keep growing and presence of ATMs have reached more than acceptable levels in some. For example, Las Vegas not only recovered from its past ATH of 95 ATM's (from a bottom of 65) but reached an impressive (for such an small area) of 121!
Also as predicted, the fees seems to have been lowered in those areas with more density probably due to increased competition.
Much more important is that SELL fees during 2019 have been constantly low in comparison to BUY fees. It is not uncommon to now find SELL fees of 1.5 to 3% where past year were almost double than that. This could be consistent to the argument that we are now in an accumulation phase so that ATM providers need to balance supply/demand via fee incentives. (If their pockets were full of BTC we would see the inverse effect in fees).
Those fees are now perfectly acceptable for the convenience of using an ATM, more so if you are a traveler to a foreign country and can also avoid currency exchange at an even higher fee.
It seems that progressive fees are starting to appear.... in some way, like establishing a buy fee of % + X$ fixed minimum amount. Also some operators offer OTC for bigger amounts at a better fee (something I would like to see implemented in the ATM itself soon).
It is possible to envision that IF Bitcoin adoption grows enough (more than one order of magnitude) during the following years some innovator conventional ATM manufacturers would even include crypto functionality into their products. That would be critical adoption milestone that could make the crypto ATM stats skyrocket. I don't see that happening in less than 3-5 years.
I am still missing this but IIRC some manufacturer announced exactly that... I just don't see it really happened yet.
The future looks bright also in this field of Bitcoin industry. Infrastructure in general has never been so good with tens of exchanges, thousands of crypto ATM's, variety of hardware wallets and third party custodial offerings, etc.
Fundamentals are there and improving day by day. Let's see what new major milestones gets achieved during next year. Sooner or later price will follow too.
This has not changed. In fact we have advanced a couple of steps more. Eventually we will reach the destination.
Cheers!
Poll
