Bitcoin ATM installations record low in May, biggest drop since 2019

Bitcoin (BTC) ATM installations across the globe have seen a steep decline throughout the year 2022, with May recording just 202 new BTC ATMs, a range last seen three ago in 2019.

Over the past five months since January, Bitcoin ATM installations saw a gradual slowdown, eventually falling down 89.75% from December 2021โ€™s 1971 new installations. However, data from Coin ATM Radar reveal an evident comeback in the installation numbers as the world saw 817 Bitcoin ATMs getting installed in June โ€” in just the first five days.

Net change of cryptocurrency machines number installed and removed monthly. Source: Coin ATM Radar

Some of the key factors contributing to the slowdown of crypto ATM installations include geopolitical tensions across the world, unclear or anti-crypto regulations, market saturation and business impact due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.ย 

Coin ATM Radarโ€™s data confirms that the United States is home to 87.9% of the total 37,826 crypto ATMs worldwide. Europe, as a continent, houses a network of 1,419 ATMs โ€” representing 3.8% of the global ATM installations.

Number of cryptocurrency machines installed by manufacturer over time. Source: Coin ATM Radar

Crypto ATM manufacturer Genesis Coin maintains its position as the leader in terms of the market share, representing 41% of the total operational crypto ATMs across the globe. Other manufacturers with prominent market share include General Bytes (21.6%), BitAccess (16%), Coinsource (5.4%) and Bitstop (4.7%).

Related: Bitcoin Lightning Network capacity crosses 3900 BTC marking a new ATH

While real-world challenges may have a momentary impact on Bitcoinโ€™s physical expansion via ATMs, at its core, the Bitcoin network continues to outperform its previous records in securing, decentralizing and speeding up the impenetrable peer-to-peer (P2P) network.

Cumulative Bitcoin capacity across all channels. Source: BitcoinVisuals node

As Cointelegraph reported based on data from Bitcoin Visuals, the Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) capacity attained an all-time high of 3915.776 BTC โ€” further improving BTC transaction speeds and reducing fees over the layer-2 protocol. The Bitcoin LN was first implemented into the Bitcoin mainnet in 2018 to address Bitcoinโ€™s infamous scalability issues.