Who owns bitcoin ATMs?

Bitcoin ATMs are owned by companies called kiosk operators. They buy or lease the machines, supply the bitcoin, set the fees and handle compliance, while retailers such as convenience store chains host the machines. How a purchase works at the machine is covered in how do bitcoin ATMs work.

Who are the biggest bitcoin ATM operators?

A Bitcoin.com News report on Coin ATM Radar data counted 38,928 crypto ATMs worldwide as of March 29, 2026, with 30,247 of them, about 77.7%, in the United States. The largest operators by machine count were:

• Bitcoin Depot, 9,246 machines, about 23.8% of the total
• CoinFlip, 5,493 machines, about 14.1%
• Athena Bitcoin, 4,045 machines, about 10.4%
• Rockitcoin, 2,757 machines
• Bitstop, 2,372 machines
• Margo, 2,138 machines

The top ten operators together ran 30,450 machines, or 78.2% of the global count. So although the kiosks carry many brand names, a small group of firms owns most of them. Counts shift as states restrict the machines, a trend tracked in where are crypto ATMs banned.

Who owns Bitcoin Depot?

Bitcoin Depot is a public company. It became listed through a merger with GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company, which closed on June 30, 2023, and its Class A shares trade on Nasdaq as BTM. Brandon Mintz is its founder and CEO, according to the company's closing announcement filed with the SEC.

Its 2023 annual report said it ran about 6,300 kiosks across 48 US states and 10 Canadian provinces at the end of that year. Circle K was its largest retail partner, hosting about 1,300 kiosks. The same filing says Bitcoin Depot is registered with FinCEN as a money services business and holds state money transmitter licenses where it believes they are required.

Who owns CoinFlip and Athena Bitcoin?

CoinFlip is based in Chicago. Benzinga identified Daniel Polotsky as its founder, and Area Development reported in 2021 that it was operating in 47 states and had signed a lease for a downtown Chicago headquarters.

Athena Bitcoin Global is publicly traded but on a small market. Decrypt reported in June 2025 that its shares trade as ABIT on the OTC Pink tier, the lowest level of US public markets. The company became known in 2021 as the first operator to put bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador.

Does it matter who owns a bitcoin ATM?

The operator is the company responsible for your transaction, its fees and any refund or complaint. Its name is normally shown on the machine and on the receipt. Because scammers often direct victims to kiosks, it helps to know who runs one, and how do crypto ATM scams work explains the warning signs.