Bitstop disrupts the bitcoin ATM space with the acquisition of Genesis Coin

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The ATM industry is no stranger to high profile acquisitions and the bitcoin side of the industry has joined the trend. Bitstop, a bitcoin ATM provider, acquired Genesis Coin, which powers more than 12,000 bitcoin ATMs in the United States and accounts for 31.9% of all such machines globally.

Doug Carrillo, Bitstop, Evan Rose, Genesis Coin, Andrew Barnard, Bitstop. Photo provided.

The ATM industry is no stranger to high profile acquisitions and the bitcoin side of the industry has joined the trend.

On January 24, Bitstop, a Bitcoin ATM provider, acquired Genesis Coin, which powers more than 12,000 Bitcoin ATMs in the United States and accounts for 31.9% of all such machines globally, according to Coin ATM Radar.

Andrew Barnard and Doug Carrillo, co-founders of Bitstop, will take over as CEO and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively. Evan Rose, Founding CEO of Genesis Coin, will transition as Technical Advisor and current Board Member.

“Genesis Coin gave birth to the Bitcoin ATM industry,” Barnard said in a press release. “This is the first and largest Bitcoin ATM software platform in the world. Evan has built a platform trusted by some of the largest Bitcoin ATM operators in our industry, both nationally internationally, including the Chivo network in partnership with the government of El Salvador.”

To learn more about what the acquisition means for the industry, ATM Marketplace reached out to Andrew Barnard, co-founder and CEO of Bitstop, via an email interview.

Q. Can you give some background on the acquisition?

A. Evan, Doug and I have known each other since the beginning of the industry. We built this industry separately and now we are building it together. We explored a potential partnership in the past, but it was a bit too early. We recently met again to talk about the future at a high level. The time had come. Vision alignment was good. The energy was there. It was natural. It came together effortlessly.

Q. What does the geographic reach of the two companies look like?

Both A.Bitstop and Genesis Coin have strong coverage in the US. Genesis Coin has a more international presence, particularly in Latin America with Athena and Chivo’s partnership with the government of El Salvador. Bitstop begins to establish international operations with strategic partners. We have operators in Europe, Australia and Asia. We plan to focus much more on international growth with the additional resources we have and some of the partners we are talking to.

Q. How will this improve bitcoin ATM services?

A. The two companies will continue to be a team. Genesis Coin begins recruiting key people and growing its team. We believe in efficiency and lean management, but it’s also important to ensure there is redundancy, continuity and legacy. You need a team to give operators a solid and stable foundation if you want them to grow and evolve without fear. That’s the point.

In the short term, we will continue to optimize and improve the current service. Long-term, we will assess technical synergies and make important strategic decisions regarding long-term infrastructure investments that support our future growth plans.

Q. What excites you most about this acquisition?

A. The opportunity is huge for Genesis Coin and Bitstop. We are the only major US-based private and white label platforms that remain independent and neutral. We do not use machines. We have no operator properties. We avoid conflicts of interest. We are focused on creating the best and most reliable software and supporting the needs of our operators so they can deliver maximum value to their customers. We work with the best operators around the world, whether private or publicly listed. Any organic M&A activity taking place in this space happens almost exclusively on the Genesis Coin and Bitstop platforms for a reason. We have created a standard for the industry. The future is bright.

Q. Can you share anything about your future plans with Genesis Coin?

A. We can’t say too much and we have more exciting news to come. For now, we can say that we are evaluating the technical synergies between the two platforms. We want to help our operators become as hyper efficient as possible while making it easy to scale. There are still many operating pain points, resulting in excessive overhead. When you look at the traditional ATM space, many operators are still using up to five times the number of bodies compared to a traditional ATM operation. We want to reduce this difference in inefficiency for Genesis Coin operators by at least 50% over the next two years. We have many ideas on how to achieve this and we believe it will be a winning formula in the long run.

Bradley Cooper is the publisher of ATM Marketplace and was previously the publisher of Digital Signage Today. He has a background in information technology, advertising and writing.

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