Tomorrow, ATMs will give way to Bitcoin ATMs. One is in retreat, the other is booming. In France and in the world, the share of automatons specializing in cryptocurrency is minimal compared to automatic teller machines, but the trend is indeed to run out of steam for one and hypergrowth on the other.
The champions in this field are in North America. The United States and Canada have 90% of the number of bitcoin distributors, these small machines allowing you to buy cryptocurrency tokens on the go without going through a service to buy bitcoins, only accessible on smartphones. But Europe, with Russia, is in second position with 1,300 PLCs according to a study by Statista.
A major push
For once, in France, the figures are trivial. Only nine machines are deployed, in Paris, Lyon and Marseille. The UK, Austria and Spain are doing better. But we are still far from the United States (23,000 machines) and Canada (1,800 machines). At the end of last week, a major push was also announced by Walmart. America’s largest retail transnational has started rolling out 200 bitcoin distributors in its stores.
“Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot project that allows its customers to use money to buy bitcoin”, Walmart communications director Molly Blakeman told CoinDesk via email. “There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located in Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot. “ Walmart has more than 4,700 stores, which gives an idea of the scale of the project if it were to be launched on a large scale.
Withdrawal of withdrawals
At the same time, automatic teller machines (ATMs) are no longer so popular. Banks, in competition with online banks, are organizing themselves to gradually withdraw their ATMs. In France, in 2020, more than 1,600 ATMs were disappearing. Recently, an agreement between BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Mutuel was linked to pool nearly a third of French distributors, upstream of their partial, gradual and discreet withdrawal.
Ironic that a virtual currency is more eye-catching on the subject of physical ATMs. That said, the frenzy of automatons to buy cryptocurrency may well weaken and only accompany a part of the clientele who had never bought cryptocurrency. Automatic machines can be just the first step before turning to an application, from home and less expensive.
I am a technology author with 8 years of experience in journalism. My writing covers the latest technology advancements and trends, drawing on my expertise in news journalism and social media platforms. I have contributed to major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.
