On July 3rd, Bitcoin Depot became the first crypto ATM operator to see its shares listed on a major US stock exchange. The debut comes after Bitcoin Depot went public through a merger with a blank-check firm that valued the company at $885 million.

Bitcoin Depot Shares Soar 11.7% on Trading Debut

Bitcoin Depot, the biggest crypto ATM operator on the globe, saw its shares surge almost 12% on their first trading day on the Nasdaq stock exchange Monday. After initially jumping to $6.60 in premarket trading, the stock closed at $3.61, up 11.76% on the day.

Bitcoin Depot’s debut comes several months after the firm completed its merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) GSR II Meteora (GSRM) in a deal that took its valuation to $885 million. On July 3, it became the first-ever crypto ATM operator to list shares on a major US exchange.

Trading under the ticker symbol “BTM,” Bitcoin Depot operates more than 6,000 crypto ATMs worldwide, accounting for around 20% of the total market in the US and 17.6% globally. The company’s CEO, Brandon Mintz, said the crypto ATM market is “highly fragmented” and as such, it provides plenty of space for consolidation.

“There’s a few dozen operators with over 100 bitcoin ATMs in the U.S. alone and there has not been a lot of M&A activity in this space compared to other parts of the crypto and blockchain industry.”

– Mintz said.

Benefits of Crypto ATMs

Bitcoin Depot completed its SPAC merger in August 2022 during a sharp crypto market downturn. The deal attracted mixed sentiment, with some skeptics associating crypto ATMs with crimes and high fees.

Meanwhile, ATM proponents argue that these machines allow consumers to access their crypto funds directly without linking a credit card or bank account to their digital wallet. This enables consumers to make crypto transactions at stores or gas stations in minutes, whereas crypto exchanges sometimes take days to execute a trade order.

The SPAC that took Bitcoin Depot public, GSR II Meteora, had around $320 million upon completing the merger that the crypto ATM could use to fuel growth. A SPAC is a publicly traded shell company created to acquire or merge with another company within a specified timeframe.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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