United States Bitcoin ATM (‘BTM’) operator Coinme has entered a partnership to sell Bitcoin (BTC) at coin counting kiosks owned by Coinstar, the company confirmed in a press release Jan. 17.
Coinme, which was the first BTM operator to receive a license in the U.S. in 2014, will reportedly add thousands of locations via the move, which has already seen integrations go live.
CEO and cofounder Neil Bergquist commented in the press release:
“Bitcoin is now accessible at your local grocery store via Coinstar kiosks, and this offering will make it even easier for consumers to participate in this dynamic new economy.”
Coinstar offers coin-to-cash conversion kiosks in various countries throughout the world. It remains unknown whether the Bitcoin feature will expand beyond the U.S., while the company did not provide figures on how many machines will offer it.
“Coinstar is always looking for new ways to offer value to our consumers when they visit our kiosks,” Coinstar CEO Jim Gaherity added.
According to industry monitoring resource CoinATMRadar, there were 4187 known BTMs worldwide as of Friday, of which 2516 (about 60 percent) were in the U.S.
The market has grown considerably in recent years, with various operators vying for control of what they believe will become a highly popular on-ramp for cryptocurrency usage.
A report published in September last year indicated that BTMs would grow to constitute a $144.5 million industry by 2023.
With increased presence comes increased risk, however, researchers last year also warning about the appearance of dedicated malware for the machines.
