Bitcoin ATMs are one of the easiest and most efficient ways to make purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies. These bitcoin ATMs have allowed thousands of users to access the cryptocurrency ecosystem. From buying, selling or sending money to family members, as well as solving problems with the traditional banking system. Let's see what bitcoin ATMs are, how they work and where to find them.
What are Bitcoin ATMs.
bitcoin ATMs They are one of the easiest and most efficient ways to be able to make purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies. The use of these ATMs is relatively new, but they have the most advanced technology. Thanks to these ATMs we can make cryptocurrency cash purchases, send cryptocurrencies to friends or family and in some cases, sell our cryptocurrencies and redeem them for cash.
How bitcoin ATMs work.
Originally these bitcoin ATMs only allowed us to purchase bitcoin with cash. Over time, ATMs have adapted to the growth of cryptocurrencies. These already allow us make purchases of a wide variety of cryptocurrencies. bitcoin ATMs They work the same way as a traditional ATM, but with the difference that in this We are not going to use any credit card. In order to make a cryptocurrency purchase from a bitcoin ATM, we first have to select the cryptocurrency we are going to buy. Next, we must enter a valid wallet where to send the funds, it can be written manually or scanning the QR code from our wallet which is safer to avoid making writing errors. Next We introduce the bills into the bitcoin ATM so that it counts the money we introduce and tells us the amount of cryptocurrencies that we will buy with the money we have introduced and the respective commission that will be charged. Finally We accept the transaction, we collect the receipt receipt of the purchase and we wait to receive our funds to our wallet.
Person entering cash to buy bitcoin.
Why use bitcoin ATMs.
The question is very easy to answer, but here in Spain, for example, we do not see as much use of it as it may be given in other regions of the world. This is because here in Spain we can make our cryptocurrency purchases through the SEPA channels enabled by centralized Exchanges. The problem (and great solution for these bitcoin ATMs) is in countries where the economic situation is very delicate and local currencies are strongly devalued due to the mismanagement of the monetary policies of a central bank of a region. The most popular cases are in countries like Argentina or Venezuela. The Argentine peso or the Venezuelan bolivar have been devalued in such a way that Its citizens need the use of these bitcoin ATMs to be able to protect their capital from the constant massive devaluation. Another of the most recent cases is that of Nigeria, where bad policies applied by the local government led Nigerian citizens to massively purchase bitcoin to protect themselves. This led to a situation where bitcoin in Nigeria was trading 60% higher than in the rest of the world.
The most devalued emerging currencies of 2022. Source: Bloomberg.
Which countries have the most bitcoin ATMs.
Nowadays we can see that with an abysmal difference, The United States is the country with the most bitcoin ATMs installed throughout the country, with a total of 32.668 bitcoin ATMs. follows him from afar Canada with 2.665, Australia with 285 y Spain very close with 271. We can also find bitcoin ATMs in less developed countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe or Namibia, something necessary to try to solve the bad monetary policies applied by governments. In total, there are 37.407 bitcoin ATMs around the world, of which allow the purchase/sale of cryptocurrencies that we can view thanks to the application Coin ATM Radar.
Bitcoin ATM world map. Source: Coin ATM Radar.
Best bitcoin ATMs in Spain.
As we have commented in the previous paragraph, Spain is located as the 4th country with the highest number of bitcoin ATMs Worldwide. If we look at the distribution of bitcoin ATMs around the country we see that the situation is somewhat different, given that a large number of ATMs (close to 50%) are concentrated in the most populated autonomous communities such as Catalonia (65), Andalusia (56), Madrid (44) and the Balearic Islands (21). The most popular bitcoin ATMs that we can use in Spain are those of Bitbase, GBTC Finance, Shitcoins.club or Eurobit. Those yes, it is worth remembering that we must verify that the ATM we use be one of the companies that we have mentioned and above all make sure to look the commissions that will be charged to us for the purchase or sale of cryptocurrencies, given that some can charge almost 10% of the purchase, something that is quite abusive. It is also worth mentioning that these bitcoin ATMs They have a maximum cash income in accordance with anti-money laundering policies, where perhaps a KYC process is required in some to be able to deposit cash or withdraw it, something that was not required before and was used by people who carried out illicit activities.
Map of the location of bitcoin ATMs in Spain. Source: Coin ATM Radar.