According to data from Coin ATM Radar, El Salvador now has the third-largest network of crypto ATMs after the United States and Canada.
The Central American nation accounts for 70% of all crypto ATMs in South America. El Salvador is also ahead of the United Kingdom in its crypto ATM count after deploying 205 crypto ATMs to facilitate local Bitcoin transactions.
In comparison with Statista data from August 16, it is quite obvious that El Salvador successfully installed 201 ATMs within a month. Before this, the country ranked 43rd on the crypto ATM list, with only four functional crypto ATMs.
Recall that President Nayib Bukele previously said that Bitcoin’s adoption would be supported by a network of 200 ATMs and 50 branches. The Salvadoran government collaborated with an in-house cryptocurrency wallet provider (Chivo) to power the BTC wallets and ATM usage in the country.
The rise in El Salvador’s ATM installation drive complements the recent presidential order mandating all businesses to accept payments in Bitcoin. However, the merchants retain the option to convert Bitcoin payments to USD before withdrawing their earnings.
On a global scale, crypto ATM installations are at an all-time high with 27,664 active machines, and 2,790 new machines being added in September. An average of 63.7 Bitcoin ATMs gets installed globally every day even as other jurisdictions are yet to decide on Bitcoin’s use case as a mainstream asset.
In terms of market share, Genesis coin is the leading crypto ATM manufacturer with a market share of 40.7%. General Bytes and BitAccess control 22.7% and 12.7% of the market, respectively.
Meanwhile, El Salvador’s recently pass Bitcoin Law has met some resistance from local citizens. This led to the burning of a Chivo-supported Bitcoin machine a few days ago. The protesters highlighted concerns of uncertainty, price fluctuation, and lack of exposure to the crypto market.
El Salvador currently uses both Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar as legal tender. The Chivo kiosk is the government’s first attempt to create an infrastructure for BTC and U.S. dollar conversions.