News

12 months on, bitcoin ATMs are making money

Lamassu says that its Bitcoin ATMs have been paying off their initial investments short order, drawing $1,000–$3,000 in gross profits monthly.

November 21, 2014

An industry that was nonexistent a year ago is flourishing and profitable today, according a news release from bitcoin ATM-maker Lamassu. Internal Lamassu surveys show that standard cash-to-bitcoin locations are averaging $20,000 in transactions per month, while prime locations are averaging $40,000–$60,000 per month. With an average commission of 5.5 percent, operators are looking at $1,000–$3,000 in gross profit monthly for each of their machines.

“Bitcoin is moving forward at a dizzying pace and it’s very encouraging to see our operators recovering their investment within three to nine months,” said Lamassu CEO Zach Harvey. “It proves that people appreciate the convenience of bitcoin ATMs, and that appreciation translates into traffic and sales for our operators.” The company's one-way Douro model costs $6,500; the two-way duo of the Douro and Santo Tirso costs $12,000.

Finland’s firstbitcoin ATM location, operated by Bittiraha, is located in Helsinki’s central train station. “Our record is $50,000 per month, but currently it's doing approximately $32,000 per month,” Bittiraha CEO Henry Brade said in the Lamassu release. Bittiraha has now launched a half-dozen locations in Finland.

New York City’s first machine has not yet made its numbers public, but the vintage fashion store that houses the machine has been reporting 15–20 bitcoin ATM-only customers daily. The network average has been about $150–$200 per transaction.

Hungary’s first bitcoin ATM, also a Lamassu machine, also has been well received, the company reported.

“We had 130 transactions in our first two weeks of operation. This was way more than I expected,” said Barnabas Debreczeni, the owner of the machine. “The restaurant hosting the ATM also started accepting bitcoin payments upon our launch. They’ve had 70 bitcoin payments so far, which absolutely beat everyone’s expectation. That means five bills paid in bitcoin, every day, on average."

According to Harvey, increasing numbers of people are interested in bitcoin, but find the buying process intimidating — a feeling that the Lamassu machine helps to dispel. 

“Our machines enable the bit-curious to put in $5 and easily buy a fraction of abitcoin. It only takes fifteen seconds. For many customers, paying a 5 percent transaction fee for that is well worth it, when they consider the alternatives. Onlinebitcoinexchanges may have minimum buy limits and can take several days to start trading, which could prove crucial withbitcoin’s volatility.”