U.S. Has 66% of All Bitcoin ATMs, Asia Far Behind

There has been much talk in the last few months about blockchain adoption in East Asia. However, the entire continent is woefully behind when it comes to something as basic as Bitcoin ATMs, according to recent statistics.

The U.S. Leads the World by Far

According to LearnBonds.com, as of January 2020, the United States is the leader in Bitcoin ATMs, and it does not look like it’s going to change anytime soon. The United States alone has 66% of all of these ATMs worldwide. Expanding the scope even further, North America has 4,992 or 77.3%.  The expansion of Bitcoin ATMs has been equally as staggering. In the past year, 2,351 new Bitcoin ATMs have been installed globally. That’s an increase of over 50% in just the past year. Clearly, they have been profitable, or else the expansion would not have been so drastic. Asia, in comparison to the U.S., has been severely falling behind. The entire continent has just 133 Bitcoin ATMs. That’s only 2.1% of the total amount of machines globally. It’s been widely believed that Asia would lead the implementation of blockchain in everyday life. That’s why so many cryptocurrency projects have decided to find their footing there. Moreover, more blockchain-related conferences were in Asia last year than ever before. Yet, it seems as though the region is falling behind on this basic metric.

Are Bitcoin ATMs Even Necessary for Adoption?

However, it remains to be seen whether such ATMs are even necessary for widespread adoption. ATMs have often been compared to cryptocurrency-related debit cards: old, outdated concepts being applied to new technologies. Perhaps Asia does not even need Bitcoin ATMs to become a blockchain powerhouse. Most of East Asia has also been going cashless with a growing reliance on mobile payments in the past few years. The future of cryptocurrencies is increasingly looking like it will be mobile-driven rather than involve old-fashioned Bitcoin ATMs. So, it could be that Asia is not actually behind when it comes to adoption—but only time will tell.