May month witnessed a sharp rise in net installations of roughly 1,400 machines crypto ATMs, reversing the year-long pattern of diminishing Bitcoin and crypto ATMs worldwide.
During the initial four months of 2023, there was a constant reduction in the overall number of cryptocurrency ATMs. While significant economies like the United States and Europe were responsible for the declining numbers at that time, Australia, Poland, and Spain accelerated the installation of cryptocurrency ATMs in their own countries.
The aforementioned graph demonstrates that there were 5,850 fewer net crypto ATMs globally in the first four months of 2023. Nevertheless, data from Coin ATM Radar shows that in May, 1,397 devices were added back to the network of crypto ATMs worldwide.
Although they don’t help the Bitcoin network expand, Bitcoin ATMs act as an actual medium of trade for customers to convert their fiat money into cryptocurrency. With the installation of 233 ATMs in 2023 alone, Australia rose to the position of third-largest crypto ATM hub globally.
Despite a terrible year-long decline, the United States continues to hold the top spot, accounting for 84.7% of all cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide, next to Canada at 7.6%.
35,069 ATMs are still in use globally as of this writing. In recent times, a hacker was able to steal private keys, passwords, and cash from General Bytes, the company that makes Bitcoin ATMs.
General Bytes stated in its announcement, “We have taken swift measures to avoid further unauthorised entry to our networks and are working diligently to safeguard our clients.”
The attacker was able to steal at least 56 BTC and 21.82 Ether. The business urged its users and clients to switch to a self-hosted server setup that can be protected by a VPN to avoid another incident like this in the near future.
