Bitcoin Depot Inc. (NASDAQ: BTM), the largest bitcoin ATM operator in North America with 9,246 kiosks and 23.8% global market share, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 18, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company will wind down all operations and sell...
"Instead of handling consumers' money in good faith, Bitcoin Depot used misleading sales tactics to overcharge its customers and knowingly facilitated crypto scams that robbed Massachusetts consumers of more than $10 million dollars." — Andrea Joy Campbell, Massachusetts Attorney General
Bitcoin Depot Inc. (NASDAQ: BTM), the largest bitcoin ATM operator in North America with 9,246 kiosks and 23.8% global market share, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 18, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company will wind down all operations and sell its assets. Its entire kiosk network has been taken offline.
The filing caps a 12-month regulatory siege. Three U.S. states — Indiana, Tennessee, and Minnesota — enacted outright bans on crypto ATMs. Connecticut suspended Bitcoin Depot's money transmission license. Attorneys general in Massachusetts and Iowa sued the company for allegedly facilitating scams. First-quarter 2026 revenue fell 49% year-over-year to $83.5 million, the company posted a $9.5 million net loss, and a March cybersecurity breach drained $3.7 million in bitcoin from corporate wallets. BTM shares crashed 70% in pre-market trading on the announcement.
The collapse of the sector's dominant player signals a structural reckoning for the $127 million crypto ATM industry, which the FBI links to $333 million in consumer fraud losses in 2025 alone.
Bitcoin Depot's Chapter 11 filing is not a restructuring. The company stated explicitly that it seeks "an orderly wind-down of the Company's operations and [to] facilitate a sale of the Company's assets," according to its GlobeNewswire press release dated May 18, 2026. The company's Canadian entities are included in the U.S. court-supervised process, with parallel restructuring proceedings expected in Canada.
The filing was made in the Southern District of Texas, a venue increasingly favored by distressed companies. Bitcoin Depot went public through a SPAC merger with GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp. in June 2023, at an implied enterprise value of approximately $755 million. As of May 16, 2026, BTM's market capitalization had contracted to $32.6 million. Pre-market trading on May 18 showed shares down 70% from the prior close of $2.93.
This is a liquidation event. The company does not indicate plans to emerge from Chapter 11 as a going concern.
The speed of Bitcoin Depot's revenue collapse is notable. Annual revenue by fiscal year:
| Year | Revenue | YoY Change | Net Income/(Loss) | |------|---------|-----------|-------------------| | FY 2023 | ~$691M | — | Loss | | FY 2024 | $573.7M | -17% | ($7.8M adjusted) | | FY 2025 | $614.9M | +7% | $4.7M | | Q4 2025 | $116.0M | — | ($24.9M) | | Q1 2026 | $83.5M | -49% YoY | ($9.5M) |
The Q4 2025 results were the inflection point. Revenue fell to $116 million with gross margins compressing to 13.2%, down from 17.2% for full-year 2025. The company posted a $24.9 million net loss in that single quarter, erasing the full year's $4.7 million profit.
Management's own 2026 guidance, issued before the filing, called for core-business revenue to decline 30-40%, driven by new state regulations and enhanced compliance standards. The actual Q1 2026 decline of 49% exceeded even that pessimistic range.
The loss of Circle K, Bitcoin Depot's largest retail partner and the source of 18% of 2025 revenue, compounded the damage. As of December 31, 2025, Circle K gave notice it would not renew its contract, forcing Bitcoin Depot to plan relocation of approximately 800 kiosks from Circle K and Holiday gas station locations.
The regulatory environment shifted from compliance-heavy to existential in 2026. According to AARP, 30 U.S. states introduced legislation related to crypto kiosks in 2026, with 20 having passed laws as of May.
Three states enacted outright bans:
In each case, legislative support was bipartisan and often unanimous, indicating minimal political resistance to removing crypto ATMs from these states.
Beyond bans, other states imposed operating restrictions that squeezed margins:
At the federal level, the Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act (S.710, 119th Congress) is under consideration, which would require blockchain analytics to prevent sending cryptocurrency to wallets known to be affiliated with fraudulent activity.
The FBI reported that from January through November 2025, bitcoin ATM scam losses totaled $333.5 million across more than 12,000 complaints. This represented a 35% increase from the 2024 total of $247 million. Another source citing 2025 full-year data places the figure at $389 million, a 58% increase from 2024.
The Massachusetts Attorney General's complaint against Bitcoin Depot contained a striking data point: 80% of customers who spent $10,000 or more at Bitcoin Depot kiosks were scam victims. The company allegedly retained up to 30% of their money in fees.
Adults aged 60 and older represent over 80% of reported dollar losses tied to crypto kiosk scams, according to FBI data. The AARP has called for the machines to be removed entirely.
When Connecticut regulators examined Bitcoin Depot's refund practices, they found the company told fraud victims there was "no way to receive a refund." State law required kiosk operators to provide full refunds to new customers reporting fraudulent transactions within 72 hours. When Bitcoin Depot did process refunds, it charged administrative fees of 5-10%.
On March 23, 2026, Bitcoin Depot disclosed that an unauthorized party gained access to its information technology systems and obtained control of credentials associated with the company's digital asset settlement accounts. Approximately 50.903 BTC were transferred without authorization, valued at approximately $3.665 million at the time of the incident.
The company filed an 8-K with the SEC. Bitcoin Depot stated the incident had not had a "material impact" on operations and that no customer data exposure was identified. However, the breach added to the cumulative financial and reputational damage.
The broader crypto ATM industry is contracting alongside its largest operator. As of March 29, 2026, the global count of crypto ATMs stood at 38,928, according to Coin ATM Radar data. During Q1 2026, 597 machines were removed net.
The U.S. held 30,247 units (77.7% of global total), down from 30,788 on January 1, a net loss of 559 machines, or 1.82%. Europe lost 31 machines, ending Q1 with 1,754 units.
Market share among remaining operators:
| Operator | Machines | Market Share | |----------|----------|-------------| | Bitcoin Depot | 9,246 | 23.8% | | CoinFlip | 5,493 | 14.1% | | Athena Bitcoin | 4,045 | 10.4% | | RockItCoin | 2,757 | 7.1% | | Bitstop | 2,372 | 6.1% | | Margo | 2,138 | 5.5% | | Top 10 total | 30,450 | 78.2% |
Bitcoin Depot's 9,246 machines going offline represents a 23.8% contraction of the entire global market in a single event. Whether acquirers absorb these locations or they simply close will determine the pace of further contraction.
CoinFlip, the second-largest operator, explored a potential $1 billion sale in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg. Its current status in the post-ban environment is unclear.
The bankruptcy filing contemplates a sale of assets. The acquirer pool is limited. Remaining operators face the same regulatory headwinds. Retailers hosting these kiosks — convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores — have been named in lawsuits alongside operators, increasing location-partner liability.
The economic model of crypto ATMs relied on high fees (often 10-30% per transaction) charged to users who were disproportionately unbanked or, according to enforcement data, fraud victims. State-imposed fee caps, transaction limits, and refund mandates erode the unit economics that sustained the business.
The global crypto ATM market was valued at approximately $127.3 million in 2025, according to Expert Market Research. Growth projections of 45.7% CAGR through 2035 were published before the current regulatory wave. Those forecasts now appear detached from the operating environment.
Bitcoin Depot's bankruptcy marks the end of the crypto ATM sector's growth thesis. The business model — high-fee kiosks converting cash to cryptocurrency at convenience stores — was predicated on minimal regulatory oversight. That condition no longer holds.
The convergence of state bans, fraud enforcement, partner defections, and margin compression produced a collapse faster than management projected. The broader crypto ATM industry, with fewer than 39,000 machines globally and a dominant operator in liquidation, faces a structural contraction that regulation alone did not cause but accelerated.
For the crypto industry's on-ramp infrastructure, the signal is clear: physical cash-to-crypto conversion via unattended kiosks has failed to meet consumer protection standards at scale. The value captured by operators — up to 30% in fees, according to enforcement complaints — was extracted disproportionately from vulnerable users. That economic model attracted regulatory intervention of a kind that does not reverse.
The remaining operators will absorb some machines and locations. But the regulatory trajectory — three state bans, a federal bill, and unanimous legislative votes — suggests the U.S. crypto ATM fleet will continue to shrink. The question is whether any business model for physical crypto kiosks survives the compliance costs that state and federal regulators are now imposing.