Does anyone still remember Bitcoin ATMs?

This thing is pretty interesting. It’s like a “physical gateway” connecting the real world to the crypto world — you can deposit money to buy coins, or exchange coins for cash and withdraw.
Nowadays, many people online are posting videos of “withdrawing cash with Bitcoin,” which looks pretty magical, as if coins can turn into banknotes out of thin air.
But no one mentions how high the fees are! These machines usually charge between 5% and 20%, averaging around 7% to 10%. Compared to exchange rates that often have a fee of a few basis points, this is basically a “fee assassin.”
Why are the fees so high?
Operators need to recoup costs — machines cost money, space costs money, maintenance costs money, and compliance costs money… so they might think the price isn’t “expensive.”
But users aren’t convinced!
There are nearly 30,000 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide, with an average daily transaction volume of less than $5,000. That means each machine earns only about $250 a day, and that’s considered “decent operation.”
In short, this business falls into a “user paradox”:
1. Who would be willing to pay an extra 5% to 20% to buy Bitcoin? If they don’t use an exchange, are they just here to be the sucker?
2. For cash withdrawal, you need to have coins first, right? But most people with coins prefer to use exchanges or DEXs. Who comes here to exchange?
3. There are also quota limits — many machines have a single transaction limit of just a few thousand dollars, and doing larger transactions requires KYC, which is troublesome.
4. The only remaining scenario is “emergency situations” — for example, digital nomads suddenly need cash. But if you have a phone, why not just use mobile payments? Moreover, how would HODLers be willing to sell coins at a loss with fees?
So in the end, these machines become “curiosity gadgets,” with extremely low repurchase rates, and no one uses them often.
In Web3, many people always want to build infrastructure or “collect taxes while lying down.” Bitcoin ATMs are just like many public chains — the more people do it, the more it cools down. The industry is changing so fast that often, what seems like an innovative model has already been tried and cooled off.
So, entrepreneurs wanting to enter Web3, before jumping in, it’s better to do some research: products you don’t see might not be because they’re too new, but more likely because they’ve already cooled off.