After seeing their total number plunge by almost 7,000 in the first half of 2023, the biggest drop in the crypto market’s history, bitcoin ATMs are enjoying renewed popularity among users worldwide, fuelled by crypto’s impressive performance in 2024.

The number of bitcoin ATMs, according to alternative data research platform AltIndex.com, has been continually growing over the past 10 months, with more than 5,600 new devices installed since July 2023.

So far, 2024 has been a fantastic year for bitcoin ATMs, the platform notes, with crypto’s price rally driving demand for these devices. The surge in the number of bitcoin ATMs comes after a challenging 2023 when market volatility and controversies about their potentially criminal use caused their total number to drop to 2021 levels.

After reaching an all-time high of more than 39,100 in December 2022, the number of bitcoin ATMs continually fell throughout the first half of 2023, causing a massive 7,000 plunge in just six months, the worst this market has ever seen.

More than half of that decline happened in July, with the number of bitcoin ATMs falling by more than 4,000 that month alone, the highest number in the market`s history. However, the following months brought the opposite trend, with the number of new ones rising ever since.

Statistics show that September and October 2023 both, the platform shares, saw roughly 1,000 new bitcoin ATMs, the figure last seen at the beginning of 2022. Although the number of new installations dropped to between 300 and 700 per month in 2024, the total number of these devices still hit over 37,500 last week, or 1,600 less than at the market peak in December 2022.

US market fuels growth

Most of the bitcoin ATM growth seen in the past 10 months, CoinATMRadar data shows, came from the United States. In fact, more than 75% of all newly installed devices, or 4,200, were placed in the US cities. Statistics show Americans could use over 31,000 crypto ATMs as of last week, up from 26,800 in July last year. That also means over 80% of all bitcoin ATMs are installed in the United States.

In comparison, the US market counts 19 times more bitcoin ATMs than Europe, which had around 1,600 of these machines as of last week, only 156 more than 10 months ago. Asia has by far the smallest number of ATMs supporting cryptocurrencies, or less than 350, the same number as last year.