Spain and Australia have beaten El Salvador in the crypto ATM race.
El Salvador hosts 212 cryptocurrency ATMs after legalising Bitcoin in September 2021.
Despite El Salvador's crypto adoption, Australia has surpassed El Salvador with 216 ATMs, followed by Spain with 215.
El Salvador falls behind crypto ATM race
El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele ordered the installation of 200+ crypto ATMs to push Bitcoin adoption in the country after it legalised the cryptocurrency in 2021.
As a result of the push, El Salvador placed third on the list of countries with the most crypto ATMs before Canada and the United States. The United States currently hosts over 34,000 crypto ATMs while Canada holds just over 2,500.
From October 2022 Spain overtook El Salvador with 226 crypto ATMs followed by Australia in January 2023 with 219. El Salvador's crypto ATM installation pace has slowed, and the country now ranks 4th with 212 crypto ATMs as of January 2023. Worldwide, there are 38,602 crypto ATMs.
According to El Salvador’s Ministry of Tourism, the country’s Bitcoin adoption boosted tourism by 30%.
From El Salvador's Ministry of Tourism:
The implementation of Bitcoin benefitted the sector. More tourists have come to see how cryptocurrency works. We did a poll to check the activity, according to the before and after of Bitcoin. The tourism sector increased in November and December more than 30 per cent.
Although it may have been a joke, President Bukele recently vouched to purchase one Bitcoin a day alongside TRON’s Justin Sun