Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Bitcoin ATMs are coming to a gas station near you

Bitcoin ATMs are coming to a gas station near you

The machines have multiplied quickly through the United States over the past year

A new feature has appeared at smoke shops in Montana, gas stations in the Carolinas and delis in far-flung corners of New York City: a brightly-lit bitcoin ATM, where customers can buy or sell digital currency, and sometimes extract hard cash.

The machines have multiplied quickly through the United States over the past year, fueled by a frenzy in crypto trading that sent bitcoin prices over $58,000.

Kiosk operators such as CoinFlip and Coin Cloud have installed thousands of ATMs, scouring areas competitors have not yet reached, executives told Reuters.

"I just assumed there was demand and people wanted bitcoin everywhere," said Quad Coin founder Mark Shoiket, who flew to Montana after scanning a U.S. map for bitcoin ATM deserts.

During a week-long road trip, he found seven places to install machines, including 406 Glass, a store in Billings, Montana, that sells tobacco, vape juice and colorful glass pipes.

As of January, there were 28,185 bitcoin ATMs in the United States, according to howmanybitcoinatms.com, an independent research site. Roughly 10,000 came within the prior five months.

Bitcoin's growing popularity has been the primary driver for new installations.

The reasons people use ATMs rather than transacting online vary. Some get paid in cash, some lack bank accounts, some want to send remittances abroad or want anonymity, while others feel more comfortable interacting with a physical machine.

Rebecca White, a 51-year-old bitcoin investor who lives in the Pittsburgh area, makes larger investments online and uses bitcoin ATMs when her family has extra money.

"When we do our grocery shopping and we have $60 left, I will stop at the bitcoin ATM," said White, who works in the nuclear power industry.

A Bitcoin logo is shown is displayed on an ATM in Hong Kong.


Some machines only offer bitcoin, while others let customers invest in various digital currencies. Few bitcoin ATMs can actually spit out cash, and they cost more than regular ATMs or transacting online.

Fees range from 6% to 20% of a total transaction, said Pamela Clegg, director of financial investigations and education at cryptocurrency compliance firm CipherTrace. Fees vary depending on the location and Bitcoin ATM operator.

"The growth of the ATM market - it is not even a gentle increase, it is almost a 45% increase," said Clegg. "The growth is quite astonishing."

Government agencies have raised red flags about some machines because of their cost and the potential for illicit activity. The New Jersey State Commission of Investigation detailed some of those concerns in a February report titled "Scams, Suspicious Transactions and Questionable Practices at Cryptocurrency Kiosks."

None of those concerns have stopped the industry's growth.

COAST TO COAST


There are now bitcoin ATMs in every state except Alaska, as well as in Washington, D.C., according to an online map by Coin ATM Radar. Reuters journalists spotted recent additions at gas stations, stores and restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, rural Pennsylvania and the outskirts of New Jersey and New York City.

Las Vegas-based Coin Cloud has 1,470 machines around the United States and expects to have 10,000 by year-end, said CEO Chris McAlary. Although there were concerns that the pandemic might hurt business, foot traffic actually rose during lockdowns.

"We expected the worst as Covid hit, but stimulus payments came out and that helped quite a bit," McAlary said. "Some people took stimulus and bought digital currency with it."

Chicago-based competitor CoinFlip grew its ATM footprint from around 420 last year to 1,800 now, said CEO Daniel Polotsky. Transactions per ATM nearly tripled during that period.

"There are people who don't have bank accounts or don't like to use them," Polotsky said.

CoinFlip charges customers 6.99% to buy crypto and 4.99% to sell, he said.

Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot similarly grew its number of ATMs from 500 to more than 1,800 machines over the past year, said CEO Brandon Mintz. Most customers are 25-40 years old and find machines by searching online, he said.

General Bytes, which manufactures bitcoin ATMs, temporarily ran out of stock last summer as demand soared. The company sold 3,000 machines last year, 90% of which went to North America, said founder Karel Kyovsky.

Not every ATM draws lines of customers.

Quad Coin's Shoiket removed a handful of the 200 ATMs he installed last year because they had not turned a profit within six months.

At Grassy Point Bar & Grill in Broad Channel, New York, an employee had to plug in a bitcoin ATM for a Reuters journalist to see how it worked.

And only a handful of truck drivers have stopped by the Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo, South Dakota, to use a Coin Cloud machine installed five months ago, said owner Vivian Sonder.

Coin Cloud offered her $200 a month to house the machine, and periodically sends maintenance people to check on it from Rapid City, 140 miles away.

"I didn't understand why they wanted to put one here," said Sonder. "It's a seasonal business in a town with less than 500 people."

(Reporting by Imani Moise and Anna Irrera; Additional reporting by Suzanne Barlyn; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Nick Zieminski)

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×