Crypto ATM provider Bitstop is rolling out new machines in partnership with the U.S.’s largest retail shopping mall operator.
Bitstop installed five bitcoin ATMs in Simon Property Group locations over the past month – in Carlsbad Premium Outlets in Carlsbad, California, Mall of Georgia in Buford, Georgia, Miami International Mall in Miami, Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, and The Avenues in Jacksonville, Florida – expanding the company’s exposure to first-time bitcoiners as it eyes a booming crypto ATM market.
They’re part of Bitstop’s drive to woo crypto newcomers: people who shop in malls, don’t understand blockchain and have never opened a bitcoin wallet, according to co-founder and CEO Andrew Barnard.
He said these locations are akin to the old cliche: “If you build it, they will come.”
“Once you put these ATMs down and you give people easy access, the people go and figure out how to use it,” Barnard said.
With these new locations, Barnard says Bitstop is continuing to build out exposure among newcomers and handhold them through the process of buying their first bitcoin. He said the kiosks represent a gateway to first-timers.
Barnard said Bitstop’s data demonstrates a wide variety of users and use cases. He said people purchase from an ATM as an investment, but also to then buy online or send remittance payments home.
The average purchase is $160 dollars. And Barnard said traffic is especially heavy around the first and 15th day of each month, which he said is payday for many users.
Placing them in malls in time for the holiday shopping season positions Bitstop for a customer influx. America’s 10 busiest shopping days are set to come between Black Friday (Nov. 29) and Jan. 1, data analysis firm Sensormatic predicts.
That foot traffic increases exposure and drives new users, who associate longevity with the physicality of the ATMs, Barnard said.
“Having it at a mall makes people go, ‘wow, I guess bitcoin is going to be around for a long time,’” he said.
Bitstop is one of the older players in the American Bitcoin ATM sphere. Barnard said the company launched in 2013 and installed its first bitcoin ATM two years later, in Florida.
However, its network of 130 U.S. kiosks are dwarfed by some of the larger brands. LibertyX, the first company to release a Bitcoin ATM back in 2014, installed its 1000th location this summer.
Bitcoin ATMs are a rapidly-growing corner of the retail crypto space. Kiosks have been installed in convenience chains across the Southwest, Family Dollar stores and gas stations.
There are now some 6017 such ATMs around the world, according to Coinatmradar.com, up 30 percent from its estimate at the start of 2019.