Bitcoin Depot, the world's largest operator of cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs), plans to list shares on the Nasdaq exchange through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) GSR II Meteora.
The listing is expected to raise $885 million U.S. for Bitcoin Depot and close in the first quarter of next year. The company claims to operate 7,000 crypto ATMs in the U.S. and Canada, giving it a global market share of 19.1%, according to data from Coin ATM Radar.
Bitcoin Depot’s ATMs enable users to purchase cryptocurrencies with cash or debit cards and wire the tokens to a digital wallet without going through a licensed cryptocurrency exchange.
However, cryptocurrency ATMs have been criticized for attracting hackers and scam artists who wire the purchased cryptocurrencies to their own digital wallets and steal the assets. In March of this year, England’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ruled that cryptocurrency ATMs operating in the United Kingdom are illegal and must be shutdown.
There are an estimated 38,000 cryptocurrency ATMs installed in 80 countries around the world, according to industry data.
Mergers with SPACs have been an increasingly popular way for companies to go public, accounting for more than half of all initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2020 and 2021, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
However, not all planned SPAC deals end up being realized. A planned $1.25 billion U.S. SPAC deal involving Bitcoin miner PrimeBlock was canceled earlier this year as the cryptocurrency market declined.
