Reports indicate that South Africa’s first multiple digital currency ATM will be located in Johannesburg’s Northwold Spar. The machine is expected to process Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Dash (DASH) as well as other altcoins. Not only will it be possible to buy and sell digital currencies at the ATM, but users will be able to do this without having to possess a bank account. According to the general manager of Northwold Spar, George Neophytou, the initiative will take away the hassle of selling and buying digital coins. It is also hoped that the cryptocurrency ATM will assist in taking digital currencies mainstream.
While it is the first multi-cryptocurrency ATM in South Africa, it is not the first overall. Before shutting down 3 years ago, Midrand hosted a Bitcoin-only ATM. Other countries in Africa already possessing digital currency ATMs include Djibouti, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Each country currently has one location.
Cryptocurrency ATM around the world
Per Coin ATM Radar, there has been a drastic increase recently in the number of ATMs that process digital currencies. Currently, there are 3,090 Bitcoin ATMs while altcoin capable ATMs total 1,563. The country with the highest number of cryptocurrency ATMs is the United States which boasts 1,957 locations. Canada comes in second with 517 locations while Austria is third with 169. The United Kingdom and Spain come in at fourth and fifth positions with 130 and 51 locations respectively. Other countries filling out the top ten list include the Russian Federation, Czech Republic, Australia, Switzerland and Italy.
Conspicuously lacking in cryptocurrency ATMs is China, despite being the most populated countries in the world. The world’s second-most populated country, India, is also under served as it only possesses one location.
Altcoins ATM support
Among the altcoins, Litecoin (LTC) has the highest number of ATMs supporting it. Roughly 47% of the crypto ATMs are able to process it. Ether comes in in third position with 27.9% of crypto ATMs supporting it while Bitcoin Cash is fourth with 15.9%. Other digital coins with single digit support levels include Dash, Zcash (ZED), Monero (XMR) and Dogecoin (DOGE).
