Bitcoin Depot has reached an agreement with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that would see the firm go public in a reported $885 million deal.
A SPAC is a shell corporation created to raise money from investors and trade on the stock exchange. It exists for the sole purpose of buying out (merging with) a privately owned company to take it public. SPACs have become a popular alternative to other means of capital raising such as the initial public offering (IPO).
Now Bitcoin Depot looks set to follow in the footsteps of Bakkt Holdings and Cipher Mining, fellow crypto firms who have used the method to go public. Earlier this year Circle (USDC) announced plans to conduct a SPAC of its own.
The right time
Founded in 2016, Bitcoin Depot lays claim to being the biggest provider of Bitcoin ATMs in North America, owning some 7,000 kiosks across the U.S. and Canada. This, however, is still only around a fifth of the total number of Bitcoin kiosks across the nation.
The U.S. remains one of the healthiest markets for Bitcoin ATMs as home to 87% of all kiosks in the world.
Growth has remained strong for Bitcoin Depot in the short term, even as the rest of the cryptosphere has wrestled with the harsh winds of crypto winter.
As Chief Executive Brandon Mintz told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, “We’re actually doing fantastic right now regardless of the market.”
The second quarter saw the company beating sales and earnings targets, achieving records in both areas. Mintx puts this down to increasing use cases for cryptocurrency including payments for physical items and sending money overseas.
A highly competitive market
The US is undoubtedly the most competitive market for Bitcoin ATMs anywhere in the world.
America has over 30,000 Bitcoin ATMs, while the next nearest nation, Canada, has 2,400.
Despite claims to be a crypto-friendly nation, the UK has no Bitcoin ATMs at all after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered all operators to shut down their activities.
Besides Bitcoin Depot, other major competitors in the U.S. include BitQuick (Athena), Coincloud, Coin Flip, Cardcoins, Crypto Dispensers, Coinzoom, and Azteco, which also has coverage in Australia and Europe.
Customers who use Bitcoin ATMs overwhelmingly use the machines to buy Bitcoin with 77.5% of customers using them to stack sats. The remaining user base uses the machines to both buy and sell BTC. No customers use Bitcoin ATMs to only sell cryptocurrency.
For Be[In]Crypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.
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