Australia is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for crypto ATM kiosks.
The number of new crypto ATMs has sprung up by seventeen times over the past two years. At the minute, Australia is the world’s third-largest market for kiosks. It has over 1,162 machines at the moment, up from August 2022’s 67.
The US boasts the most number of ATMs, with about 32,000 machines. It is followed by Canada on the second spot, with over 3,000 machines.
Users of these ATMs can deposit cash to receive crypto in digital wallets. Alternatively, they can also obtain fiat by selling tokens.
On one hand, kiosks bolster financial inclusion by offering seamless access to crypto. Meanwhile, skeptics continue to remain sketchy about the risks involved including money laundering.
According to Angela Ang, Senior Policy Adviser at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, Australian authorities have “identified crypto ATMs as a money laundering vulnerability.”
The Australian Federal Police [AFP] has time and again warned users that crypto is used by perpetrators because it takes only seconds to create a crypto account, i.e. an address, with a service provider, which is free of cost and provides a “perceived level” of anonymity. In March last year, they asserted,
“Crypto ATMs, prepaid debit cards loaded with cryptocurrency or online gaming sites that accept cryptocurrency are some of the ways crypto is then used to hide illicit funds.”
Crypto is a parallel financial system to the fiat system, and Chicago-based CoinFlip’s executive Ben Weiss is of the opinion that “it makes sense” for the “physical component” like ATMs to exist.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin Depot’s executive Brandon Mintz believes that the market has the potential to grow by “thousands of Bitcoin ATMs” over the next couple of years in Australia.
