Even as some competitors expand their bitcoin ATM operations, Bitcoin Depot, once the largest operator of bitcoin ATMs in North America, announced it is closing up shop. Bitcoin Depot announced Monday that it was filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas and would begin an orderly wind-down of its business in the United States. It expects to begin similar proceedings in Canada and elsewhere around the world “in due course.” Bitcoin ATMs, or BTMs, allow users to buy bitcoin directly for cash, bypassing the need for cryptocurrency exchanges, and the credit cards and bank accounts needed to use them. Saying its business model has become “unsustainable,” Bitcoin…
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Los Angeles Slated for Bitcoin ATMs
Bitcoin Bancorp sees growth potential in the Golden State
In February, 2014, I trekked down from my office in Midtown to a little boutique on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The goal was to visit New York City’s first bitcoin ATM. I purchased about 1/10th of a bitcoin – a couple hundred dollars back then, if I recall correctly. I had bought my first bitcoin in 2012 and was one of the first ever to mention the words “cryptocurrency,” “bitcoin” and “ripple” in the mainstream press when I wrote about it all for Esquire (the George Clooney cover, Dec 2013). Still in its infancy, bitcoin was only just beginning to move beyond money hobbyists and doomsday preppers. There in…
