- Bitcoin almost broke through USD 9,000 before falling back to current levels near USD 8,700
- There are now more than 7,000 Bitcoin ATMs located in 75 countries throughout the world
- Grayscale Investments say that Bitcoin is not going away, and continues to firm up its role as a store of value and digital gold
Bitcoin has remained in relatively stable range over the past 24 hours, after creating a high of USD 8,977 (CoinDesk) to now settle just around USD 8,700. All in all, bull movements looked possible right until Europe markets took over from Asia, when sell offs wiped out the day’s gains on Tuesday.
Of note is the fact that a strong relief bounce does not look like it is over, since the lows are getting higher, on the bank of a US Federal Reserve rate cut yesterday.
But if you’re looking for one sure sign that Bitcoin popularity and mainstream adoption is only increasing, then pay attention to the fact that there are now over 7,000 Bitcoin ATMs (BATMs) all over the world. According to the latest statistics from website aggregator CoinATMRadar, there are now 75 countries hosting 7,014 of the machines today, including those who also sell other alternative cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH), Dash (DASH) and Litecoin (LTC). Even Bitcoin fork coins like Bitcoin Cash are sold on some machines.
This is a long way indeed from the very first such machine back in 2013 when Robocoin installed the first BATM in a coffee shop in Vancouver. Back then, it was a two-way machine, accepting cash for Bitcoin, and also where you could sell your coins for Canadian dollars. It’s launch was so popular it transacted USD 10,000 worth of Bitcoin on its first day.
Today, the scene has truly widened, with 42 different manufacturers now pushing out these 7,000 BATMs. Robocoin still is in business, but only has two machines, while Genesis Coin has the lion’s share of devices, responsible for machines in 2,348 worldwide locations!
What’s more interesting is that the rate of growth has becomes so fast, that since November 2019, there have been more than 1,000 new machines installed, bringing the BATM daily average growth to about 11.7 in just the past week alone. Last year, Bitstop teamed up with Simon Malls, while Florida’s Miami International Airport also received a Bitcoin ATM from Bitstop in the latter half of 2019.
Adoption? For sure!
It isn’t these numbers alone that are spurring such bullish sentiment from crypto asset funds like Grayscale Investments, whose managing director Michael Sonnenschein, has come out to say that Bitcoin has successfully “solidified” its dual roles in the global economy as a store of value, and that of “digital gold”. Currently the world’s largest Bitcoin Fund, Grayscale insists that the new era of investment was all about Bitcoin. Speaking to financial media The Compound, Sonnenschein said:
“So I talk to an institution, they now look at Bitcoin as part of the same flight to safety as they might look at bonds or gold or other things that have served in that capacity for them, and that wasn’t a widely-held narrative probably until about the last 12 or 18 months.”
Today, the firm has a total assets under management (AUM) of Bitcoin that encompasses about 1.5% of all Bitcoin in circulation: a massive USD 3 billion worth of assets. Since January, it has become a reporting company to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Sonnenschein thinks crypto enterprieses that are regulatory compliant are changing perceptions for the better. He said:
“There is ever-growing evidence that this asset class is not going away — investors want access to it, and if the legacy institutions want to remain competitive, they’re going to have to open the door to this asset class for their clients.”
BitcoinNews.com is committed to unbiased news and upholding journalistic codes of ethics. For more information please read our Editorial Policy here.
Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom
Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews
Image Courtesy: Pixabay
