Crypto ATMs on the Rise Despite Bearish Market

2018 has not been a good year for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin’s price had dropped over threefold since its last year’s peak of over $20,000, but cryptocurrency ATMs are surprisingly being adopted more and more by the industry despite the market’s current situation.

November has seen the worst valuation for BTC since August 2011, with prices hitting rock bottom. Amidst all this, ATM manufacturers have reportedly sold over 209 tellers around the world in the month of November, even as the price of BTC, the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was in shambles. A report published by Coin ATM Radar includes details on 68 previously established kiosks being closed, bringing the month’s net increase to 141 new ATMs, a positive stroke for the industry and enthusiasts seeking reasons to remain optimistic for crypto adoption into 2019.

Despite the price drops and the cryptocurrency market taking a hit in 2018 with record lows, its adoption and growing interest across the world is showing no signs of slowing down. 2018’s Google year-in-review, curated by trends in searches across the world, showed “What is Bitcoin?” as the number one most frequently asked question in the United States and the United Kingdom.

A portion of observers and users have expressed scepticism over the use of cryptocurrencies anymore since the fall in their price and are looking at this obstacle as a main source of pain for the Blockchain industry’s growth and development. However, many others are looking at the brighter side of this, believing that this is nothing but a minor hiccup in the long-run growth of the new technology.

While crypto ATMs may not generate enough buzz as the price of BTC falling to record lows, it does provide somewhat of an indication as to where the industry will stand a year from now.

Billionaire crypto investor and Bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz, in a conference call to kick off the start of the month, proclaimed that cryptocurrency had a strong outlook for 2019 and 2020 despite current market prices,

“I fundamentally think you’re going to see big adaption in 2019, 2020. Lots of the items in the digital world, the e-gaming space, are low value items so I think people will be more comfortable participating in blockchain. We’re making big investments in that area.”

Truly, with the advent of low-priced devices and options by Blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, it is likely that we will see much more widespread adoption of the technology at the grassroots. There are 2,243 ATMs currently active in the USA alone, with many more across the globe and the report by Coin ATM Radar indicates that the number of altcoins accepted by ATMs in the month of November has risen by 59 per cent.