Fort Worth-based Coinsource, the world’s largest bitcoin ATM operator, announced a new partnership with convenience store and gas station company Kwik Trip.
Coinsource, which has over 2,500 bitcoin ATMs, said this week that installations have already begun in Kwik Trip’s 800 retail stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. The La Crosse, Wis., family-owned gas station chain has more than 32,000 employees.
“It is our top priority to place our machines in essential, convenient locations because bitcoin is becoming increasingly essential to Americans,” said Coinsource CEO Sheffield Clark in a statement.
Coinsource, which launched its first machine in 2015 on the Las Vegas strip, has machines in 46 states, including a few hundred in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The company says it has a machine within a 15-minute drive of 80% of the U.S. population and that it hopes to expand internationally.
The company says on its website that its goal is “to create and open the floodgates of cryptocurrency to all individuals no matter what their financial background is.” It only accepts cash, allowing people who don’t have credit cards or debit cards to purchase and sell bitcoin.
To use a machine, customers need to create a Coinsource account either ahead of time or at the machine, which requires a cellphone number, a photo of your state ID card and a selfie. You also need to make a digital wallet online so the ATM knows where to send your bitcoin.
To buy bitcoin, insert cash and the kiosk will sell you bitcoin at the market price at that moment minus Coinsource’s 11% fee. You can also sell your bitcoin and receive cash in exchange.
The maximum amount of cash that can be deposited in a Coinsource ATM is $8,500; the minimum is $5. With bitcoin’s current price of $29,250, the upper limit of $8,500 would buy 0.29 bitcoin.
Bitcoin has lost more than half of its value since reaching new highs in November as cryptocurrencies reflect the broader stock market downturn due to inflation and geopolitical uncertainty. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average index posted its eighth consecutive weekly loss, its longest downturn streak since the Great Depression in 1932. Since November, the global crypto market cap has fallen from $2.9 trillion to $1.2 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Coinsource says on its website that it doesn’t share the personal information of its customers with any third party.
You can use Coinsource’s ATM locator online to find a kiosk near you. Locations include A1 Food Store on Storey Lane, Seven Mart Food Store on Davis Street, Chilly Mart on Marsh Lane, Texaco on Dallas Parkway and Quick Stop on South Cherry Lane.
