The Bitcoin ATM operator RockItCoin announced the acquisition of Tao Bitcoin on Oct. 25. Tao Bitcoin is a regional ATM operator with 56 machines, mostly located in the south of the United States.
According to the company, the acquisition was part of they company’s strategy to find value and synergies among smaller and regional players in the Bitcoin ATM space. With the deal, the machines operated by RockItCoin came to almost 1900 across 44 U.S. states.
The Bitcoin ATM industry is poised for consolidation in 2023, according to RockItCoin’s president Ben Phillips, with the company likely to acquire more players in the coming months. He stated:
“Where costs are increasing for many of the regional players, our existing networks, relationships, and operations are poised for scalability.”
RockItCoin CEO and founder Michael Dalesandro also anticipated additional acquisitions in the fourth quarter of 2022:
“We are constantly on the lookout for ways to expand our footprint while continuing to serve our customers with convenient physical locations where they can safely and efficiently buy and sell cryptocurrency.”
Over the next few weeks, the former Tao Bitcoin ATMs will be rebranded as RockItCoin locations. Founded in 2016 by John Taylor and Andrew Arterburn, Tao Bitcoin analyzed several offers for the machines, but decided to close the deal with RockItCoin after considering “values closely aligned with our own.”
“We are proud of the company we started from scratch to offer consumers easy access to cryptocurrency,” stated Taylor about the acquisition.
Over the next five years, the global cryptocurrency ATM market is forecast to grow rapidly to a half-billion dollar market. A report published in July by Research and Markets estimates a compound annual growth rate of 59% for the industry from 2022 to 2027. It currently values the crypto ATM market at $46.4 million and expects this value to increase to $472 million over the time period.
Among the main drivers of this growth are the increase in remittances and fund transfers in developing countries, fluctuations in monetary regulations, and crypto ATM installations.