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The world's first Bitcoin ATM opened to little fanfare in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2013.

Fast forward a decade, and that solitary machine has multiplied into a vast network of over 38,000 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide, with the lion's share — over 36,000 — peppered across the United States. Coinme, a crypto exchange focused on bitcoin ATMs, has played a pivotal role in this expansion.

Neil Bergquist, Coinme's co-founder and CEO, has been riding the crypto wave since those early days. "I was the managing director for the SURF Incubator in Seattle," Bergquist recalls. "We had about 200 startups and 1,000 engineers and were sponsored by Microsoft and PayPal. That's when I first learned about Bitcoin."

Like many, Bergquist was initially skeptical. But when bitcoin's value surged in the early 2010s, he couldn't ignore it any longer. “I wasn't quitting my day job over pursuing bitcoin,” he says. “But it wasn't until bitcoin went from $100 to $1,000 that I thought, ‘OK, this is really something that is gaining a lot of adoption.’ I'm not going to pretend that I was some technological savant. I was a bandwagon fan."

But the success of that first Bitcoin ATM in Vancouver — doing $1 million in volume in its first month and paying for itself in just two weeks — caught Bergquist's attention. It was a solid demonstration of how crypto could increase financial access for those who were frustrated or unable to engage with traditional banking systems. Bergquist couldn’t keep watching crypto from the bandwagon. He decided to launch his own cash-to-crypto exchange.

Mainstream Adoption

It wasn’t easy to acquire Bitcoin in the early days. "You'd meet a stranger you met online in a coffee shop, give them cash, and they'd give you a USB stick with bitcoin on it," Bergquist explains. "It was wholly unregulated and potentially dangerous."

Launching in this environment, Coinme's mission was clear: Make crypto accessible, safer, and user-friendly for everyone. Bergquist and his team recognized an opportunity to reach beyond the techno-savvy and serve the underbanked. Crypto could be the foundation of financial services for those left behind by traditional banks.

For unbanked and underbanked populations, bitcoin ATMs can offer a gateway to financial services that were previously out of reach. Traditional banks often impose minimum balance requirements, monthly fees, and other barriers that can be prohibitive for low-income individuals. Bitcoin ATMs, on the other hand, allow anyone to buy or sell cryptocurrency with cash, no bank account required.

This approach is particularly valuable for immigrant communities with family abroad who rely on cross-border remittances. Bitcoin ATMs can be an attractive alternative to the fees and time lengths of traditional wire services.

“It's impossible to overdraft," Bergquist points out. "There's no account fee, no opening account fee. Those fees just don't exist."

This focus on accessibility has paid off. Today, the company boasts a network so extensive that nearly 90% of Americans live within roughly 5 miles of a Bitcoin ATM.

"There are more Coinme cash locations than the largest private bank ATM networks," says Bergquist.

Strategic Partnerships

Coinme's rapid expansion and accessibility didn't happen in isolation. The company's strategic partnerships with established financial services providers have been crucial to its growth and reach.

In 2019, it partnered with Coinstar, the ubiquitous coin-counting kiosk company found in grocery stores across America. This collaboration instantly multiplied potential touchpoints for everyday customers.

After the success of its collaboration with Coinstar, Coinme took another significant step in 2021 by partnering with MoneyGram, a major player in global money transfers. Coinme widened its reach, offering users the ability to buy and sell Bitcoin at around 20,000 MoneyGram locations. The following year, in January 2022, MoneyGram demonstrated its dedication to incorporating cryptocurrency into conventional financial services by purchasing a 4% stake in Coinme.

These partnerships enable users to purchase crypto or exchange crypto for cash at familiar locations, lowering a barrier for those who might be intimidated by purely online exchanges.

B2B and Crypto-as-a-Service

While Coinme has made significant strides in the consumer market, the company isn’t resting on its laurels. Recognizing the growing interest in cryptocurrency from traditional financial institutions, the company has begun to offer business-to-business and crypto-as-a-service solutions.

The aim is to provide crypto infrastructure and expertise to other financial institutions to allow their customers a seamless bridge to manage their finances using crypto.

"With more customers dabbling in crypto, there’s an opportunity to crypto-enable existing financial institutions," says Bergquist.

This move into B2B services could potentially accelerate the integration of cryptocurrency into mainstream finance. As traditional banks begin to offer crypto services, it could further legitimize digital assets in the eyes of both regulators and the general public.

And Coinme's decade of experience proactively managing the regulatory environment growing around crypto could give them an advantage in this space.

The Future of Coinme and Crypto Access

Coinme recently announced it has reached over $1 billion in sales, and Bergquist remains focused on the company's core mission of increasing financial access through cryptocurrency. Whether through consumer-facing Bitcoin ATMs or B2B crypto-as-a-service offerings, the goal remains the same: to make digital assets accessible to all.

"As crypto continues to gain popularity, bitcoin ATMs will continue to expand and serve as a vital onramp to this digital ecosystem," says Bergquist.

With its extensive network of physical locations, strategic partnerships, and growing B2B offerings, Coinme is well-positioned to play a significant role in the future of cryptocurrency adoption. The line between traditional finance and crypto continues to blur, and companies like Coinme may well be at the forefront of a new, more inclusive financial ecosystem.

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