Crypto ATM Operator Bitcoin Depot's Stock Rises 12% in Stock Debut

Shares of Bitcoin Depot, the world's largest crypto ATM operator, rose nearly 12% in their Nasdaq debut Monday following a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) GSR II Meteora (GSRM) that was valued at $885 million in August.

Atlanta, Georgia-based Bitcoin Depot, trading under the ticker "BTM," is the first crypto ATM operator to list on a major U.S. stock market.

It was a wild day of trading in the stock. The shares had risen as high as $6.60 in pre-market trading before pulling back to $3.39, up 5% from the Friday level shortly after the market opened.

BTM shares closed on Monday at $3.61, an increase of nearly 12% on GSRM's closing price on Friday.

Crypto ATMs enable users to buy crypto with cash or debit cards and wire the tokens directly to a particular wallet without going through a crypto exchange. However, they have also been used by scam artists, who list goods on sites like eBay or Craigslist with instructions for purchasers to pay by depositing physical currency in an ATM.

Bitcoin Depot operates over 6,000 such machines, representing a 20% market share of ATMs in the U.S. and a 17.6% global share, according to data from Coin ATM Radar.

With the crypto ATM market "highly fragmented," according to Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz, there is a lot of room for consolidation in the sector, on which the firm is now setting its sights.

"There's a few dozen operators with over 100 bitcoin ATMs in the U.S. alone and there has not been a lot of M&A activity in this space compared to other parts of the crypto and blockchain industry," Mintz told CoinDesk in an interview. "Rolling up this highly fragmented market is a really exciting opportunity for us."

Having installed ATMs at over 2,000 Circle K convenience stores in the last two years, Bitcoin Depot is planning on pursuing similar installation deals with other "household name retailers" as well as some smaller regional chains, Mintz added.

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UPDATE (July 3, 17:35 UTC): Adds BTM's Monday closing price