Coinme started with just three bitcoin ATMs in Seattle. Today, it operates the largest network of bitcoin ATMs on the planet, with over 40,000 locations in the U.S. CEO Neil Bergquist envisions a world where using cryptocurrency for everyday transactions is as seamless as using popular mobile payment apps.
“We’re seeing a lot of user experience improvements where you don’t even need to understand the technology in order to engage with cryptocurrency,” he says. “You don’t need to set up a private key. You don’t need to download a wallet, you don’t need to worry about digging up a landfill because you lost your USB stick in order to access your bitcoin.”
The Future of Mobile Payments
Mobile payment apps like Venmo and PayPal revolutionized peer-to-peer transactions by making them instant and free. Coinme aims to do the same with cryptocurrency, and crypto could offer additional advantages over traditional systems, says Bergquist.
“Venmo and PayPal are still built on a fiat-based financial system. Venmo pulls money from your bank account and deposits money into your bank account. Venmo’s using dollars, but a crypto-native financial institution gives you multicurrency access.”
Bergquist argues that the ability to easily transact across borders and currencies is increasingly valuable.
“People can now live a multicurrency life. People can now choose the money that they want to use,” he says.
Cryptocurrency transactions are inherently borderless. “Crypto is built on blockchains, and blockchains are digitally native. It doesn’t matter which country you’re in,” Bergquist points out. “If you broadcast a bitcoin transaction to the blockchain, you can do that regardless of what country you’re in. And that’s the beauty of an open financial system.”
Global accessibility is particularly relevant for remittances. “There’s over $50 billion a year of cash that’s sent from the United States to Latin America, and that’s cash to cash,” Bergquist notes. “Well, now you can put that cash into a Coinme location, get crypto, and send that anywhere faster and cheaper than a lot of existing solutions.”
Solving the Access Problem
Coinme’s growth strategy has centered on partnerships with established financial services companies, allowing it to expand its network without building new infrastructure from scratch. In 2019, the company partnered with Coinstar, enabling bitcoin purchases at nearly 10,000 Coinstar kiosks across the United States.
In 2021, Coinme announced a partnership with MoneyGram, further expanding its reach. These partnerships have been crucial in making cryptocurrency more accessible to the general public, allowing people to purchase bitcoin with cash in familiar retail environments.
Bergquist emphasizes the importance of this accessibility.
“There is a Coinme location located within five miles for nearly 90% of the American population,” he explains. “When we got started, we were one of the first 10 bitcoin ATM locations in the world. And now we’ve solved the access problem. There are more Coinme cash locations than the largest private bank ATM networks or branches.”
This extensive network also solves one of the persistent challenges in cryptocurrency adoption: the ability to easily convert digital assets back into cash.
“We’re one of the only places where you can actually liquidate your crypto for cash so that cash can be utilized to buy goods or services,” Bergquist says. “One of the misconceptions is that you can’t buy anything with bitcoin. Coinme enables you to liquidate your bitcoin for cash and then you can buy nearly anything you want.”
Increasing Adoption
Now in its 10th year, Coinme has processed over $1 billion in transactions.
“We want to make the cash-to-crypto buying experience as simple as possible. Automatically loading crypto into the Coinme wallet after purchasing it at a Coinstar kiosk makes it more streamlined than ever for both the first-time and experienced crypto user,” says Bergquist. “The purchase is linked directly to the customer’s mobile phone number and loaded into their Coinme wallet all before they leave the grocery store.”
But Bergquist also acknowledges that there’s still work to be done in terms of education, regulation, and technological development.
“Why is digital currency seen as a store of value? Why is bitcoin a good long-term digital gold? Why are people using crypto for payments? Why are people using crypto for remittances?” he asks. “I think it’s really an education problem. The more people we can educate about how crypto is solving problems that exist within our current monetary system and financial service providers, the better.”