Number of Bitcoin ATM machines to double

Michael Jack, head of product at Coinstar, said the company expects to finalize the doubling plan within a year. In parallel, Coinme is evaluating options for rolling out additional machines in the near term, though the company hasn't locked in specific timing or locations for these deployments yet.

As lockdowns shuttered most retail locations, supermarkets and pharmacies remained open and essential. Customers visited these anchor stores with greater frequency during the crisis, and many discovered Bitcoin ATMs on site. Some had never interacted with crypto before. Coinme pulled its transaction data to understand what was happening. In March and April, customers using a machine for the first time accounted for 40 percent of all transactions recorded. The two-month window brought more fresh users to the network than any comparable prior period.

The company observed that while ATM growth was strong in certain regions, similar trends were emerging across the board. As people confronted the pandemic, consumer interest in cryptocurrency rose.

Coinme announced a funding round on Thursday. The startup raised $10 million in Series A financing. Four firms participated in the round: Pantera Capital, Coinstar, Nima Capital, and Blockchain.com Ventures. Pantera led the investors, committing $5.5 million and securing a seat on Coinme's board.

Paul Veradittakit, a partner at Pantera, laid out the investment rationale. Coinme tackles "the problem of the fiat-on ramp to crypto," he said. The capital will fund development of Coinme's API, a tool that enables cross-border payments. The API allows Coinme to integrate its service with any ATM, kiosk, or merchant system.

Latin America looms large in Coinme's strategy. The company views itself as infrastructure that will power seamless money transfers in a region where crypto adoption is climbing. Blockchain payments in Latin America jumped 60 percent since mid-February. Coinme is betting its ATM network can meet that growing demand.