TL;DR Breakdown
- Colombia sees surge in number of Bitcoin ATM.
- Becomes second highest country with BTC ATM in Latin America.
- More crypto ATM firms wants to serve Colombia residents.
Colombia has seen a sharp surge in the number of Bitcoin ATMs, making it the country with the second-highest number of Bitcoin ATMs in the Latam region.
The surge in the number of Bitcoin ATMs is attributed to the high percentage of cash usage in the country, making the machine required in high quantity amidst a high surge in demand for crypto.
Previously, Colombia used to be the number one country in Latin America with the highest number of crypto ATMs. However, the country dropped to number two after El Salvador made Bitcoin its legal tender.
Currently, there are 50 cryptocurrency ATMs in Colombia, but the reasons for this boom are still not clear to some.
It is worthy to note that Colombia is not well known for its cryptocurrency adoption as cryptos involvement at governmental level was limited to a regulatory sandbox. However, there has been increased interest by cryptocurrency ATM companies in offering their services in Colombia.
Alejandro Beltrán, CEO of Buda, a Latam-based exchange, confirmed this, stating that Colombia continues to be an important crypto hub in transactionality, and as Venezuela is in the top 3 in the global adoption index, the border position makes ATM systems good alternatives for consumers.
Reasons why Bitcoin ATM surge in Colombia
Cryptopolitan has reported, previously, how Bitcoin ATMs dominated the country’s capital, Bogota.
The rise then was attributed to the government accepting a trial of crypto payment till December 2020. The Colombian Ministry of Information Technology (MinTIC) also asked the public sector to adopt blockchain technology.
2017 witnessed a massive market for Bitcoin in Colombia above any other country in the continent. This is partly because Colombian investors tend to choose convertible investments. Plus, Bitcoin payments are nameless – there are no documents or stipulations. Colombians also tend to seek investment opportunities with small sums, so Bitcoin is deemed productive.
Per a survey by Paxful in 2019, they revealed an upswing in Bitcoin and Etheruem among Colombians. Its findings show that 80 percent were prepared to buy into crypto. This is no surprise as Paxful auctioned over $1 million from Colombian traders in 2019.
