Installs of cryptocurrency ATMs decreased in 2023, but according to Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz, a post-halving surge in Bitcoin prices should see a recovery in the market.

According to the CEO of a significant Bitcoin ATM operator, the number of Bitcoin ATM installations will probably increase globally following the Bitcoin halving, when cryptocurrency FOMO (fear of missing out) usually reaches a fever pitch.

Installs of cryptocurrency ATMs saw their first annual decrease in ten years in 2023, most likely due to a bear market made worse by the failure of multiple cryptocurrency companies.

But according to Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz, 2024 is off to a great start. 1,469 cryptocurrency ATMs were installed in the first three months of the year, compared to nearly 3,000 removed by the same period in 2023, based on data from CoinATMRadar.

CEO of Bitcoin Depot Brandon Mintz told Cointelegraph, “It’s looking positive that the industry continues to see a lot of growth in kiosk count.”

Currently, Mintz is predicting an industry-wide ATM resurgence as Bitcoin BTC $70,537, which has already surpassed its March peak twice, is back in the black.

According to Mintz, cryptocurrency adoption spikes later in the cycle, particularly during the FOMO moment that begins to happen, and this attracts more customers during previous bull markets.

“The adoption rate is very beneficial because it indicates that a certain percentage of Bitcoin purchases are probably being made at Bitcoin ATMs.”

But that usually happens later in the cycle, and as Mintz puts it, “it’s still pretty early.”

He stated, “We aren’t even at the halving yet,” alluding to the 50% reduction in Bitcoin mining incentives scheduled for late April.

“We’ve seen more of an uptick after the halving in the past,” he continued. “The FOMO phase begins when the price peaks after the halving.”

According to Mintz, the number of ATMs has increased recently, but over the previous 18 months, the number of ATM operators has decreased. One of the biggest was Coin Cloud, an ATM operator with 5,000 machines, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2023.

“Much more of them were having difficulties closing their doors than was made public,” he claimed.

He said that the decline “happened pretty quickly” following the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November 2022, which also took the market with it.

The fourth quarter and annual results for Bitcoin Depot 2023 were made public on March 25. While net income decreased by 54% to $1.6 million, full-year revenues increased by 7% to $689 million.

Additionally, it wants to deploy 900 ATMs in the first quarter of 2024 and has plans to install 940 ATMs at convenience stores throughout 24 states in the US.

The Bitcoin ATM operator shares the market with a limited number of other operators, according to CoinATMRadar. Bitstop is in third place with over 2,500, while Coinflip, the competing operator in second place, has just over half that amount, with over 4,200.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs don’t cause issues.

According to CoinATMRadar, the United States is home to over 30,600, or roughly 83%, of the 37,001 cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide.

Additionally, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were legalized in the United States in January. Some have heralded this development as a stimulus for institutional and retail investors wishing to enter Bitcoin.

Mintz remained unfazed by the potential effects of ETFs on Bitcoin ATMs. He declared, “We see it as an entirely different customer base.”

He continued, “Many of our customers are underbanked or unbanked, so they transact primarily or exclusively in cash.”

However, purchasers of Bitcoin ETFs are “more affluent individuals with brokerages and brokers.”

“Our customer base is not that likely to have a brokerage account or a broker and has not been likely to have just been sitting on the sidelines waiting for [an ETF] when it’s so easy to just buy through a Bitcoin ATM,” as the great majority of our customers make between $90,000 and $100,000 annually, according to Mintz.

Instead, he believes that if Bitcoin’s popularity rises, more ATM usage may result from the ETFs driving up the cryptocurrency’s price.

As adoption rises, there will likely be a corresponding rise in the use of Bitcoin ATMs. It will benefit our sector far more than negatively affect it in the broad scheme of things.