How CoinFlip Bitcoin ATMs Bring New Users to Web3 Through Crypto Winter – FTX Token (FTT/USD), Bitcoin (BTC/USD)

More major disappointment and failure has hit the crypto space this week. Sam Bankman-Fried was once the wonder of Web3 until a public statement on crypto regulation put him out of the good graces of the majority of the blockchain community.

Little did we know that Bankman-Fried’s unpopular public statements were a warm-up act for the swan dive that was to follow, and FTX exchange FTT/USD and the price of Bitcoin BTC/USD — and all network coins that Solana SOL/USD – with that.

These highly visible explosions by the darlings of DeFi are having a detrimental effect on both private and institutional investors. It will be harder to mainstream crypto when our leading projects don’t have their houses in order.

Still, the big mainstreaming continues, and executives like CoinFlip quietly contributing to the acquisition of new crypto users.

CoinFlip has thousands of Bitcoin ATMs across the US and Canada, making it easier to participate in crypto by making the world’s most famous token easier and more accessible to buy. All you need is cash and a kiosk: the wallet part comes later.

We spoke with the Bitcoin CEO Ben Weiss to learn more about their strategy for mainstreaming crypto through a bear market. Weiss will be speaking at Benzinga’s Future of Crypto event on December 7 at Pier Sixty in New York City.

Ben Weiss at the CoinFlip Experience Center.

BZ: What is the purpose of a BTC ATM – for users outside the crypto space?

Weiss: “CoinFlip owns and operates over 4,000 Bitcoin ATM locations in the US and Canada. We’re trying to demystify crypto. We’re trying to take it out of the cloud and make it physical and tangible. Our ATMs are in people’s gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and neighborhoods. People want to see them, and then they get curious. And to get involved in crypto with CoinFlip, all you need is your phone and some money. We started CoinFlip because we didn’t want barriers to getting involved in crypto, whether it was not having a bank account or not being comfortable with the latest technologies.”

BZ: Isn’t Bitcoin too volatile to be used as an ATM currency?

“Bitcoin volatility can make it harder for people to use it as a payment mechanism, but in the US, people mostly use our Bitcoin ATMs to buy crypto.”

BZ: What kind of premium do users pay to buy Bitcoin with CoinFlip versus using a crypto exchange?

“The cost of CoinFlip at the kiosk is about 6% to 12%, which is among the lowest in the industry.”

BZ: How many people have CoinClip onboard with their first Crypto Wallets?

“We don’t have an exact count, but it’s well into the hundreds of thousands.”

BZ: Who are the intended users of your BTC ATMs?

“People using our kiosks include the unbanked and underbanked, which is up to 20% of people in the US, but our users also include the crypto-curious. Some people see Bitcoin ATMs and they’ve always thought about getting into Bitcoin, and their friends might have talked about it. But they’ve never really had a call to action. Then they walk into their grocery store, and then they see it. They might not try it the first time or the second time they see it, but by the third time they think they: ‘Okay, I’ll put $50 on it.’ It could be the waitress who gets her tips at the end of her shift in cash and wants to put in extra tips in crypto. We’re seeing a lot of people average dollars.”

BZ: How does your user demographic differ from the major crypto exchanges?

“I would say that people who get into crypto using CoinFlip are the crypto curious. CoinFlip customers are usually not power traders. It is for the average, everyday person who has heard of crypto and may be curious about crypto as a way to take control of their financial destiny. There may be people who are not technologically savvy, but who still want and deserve to participate.”

BZ: During the bear market, do you see the same level of BTC ATM interactions? Are you continuing to add ATMs?

“We’ve fully leaned into crypto winter. We’re hiring. We’ve continued to add locations. For every person who might be scared because the price went down, someone sees this as a great opportunity to buy one of the best-performing assets the last 10 years with a discount. Our numbers stay very steady. In 2022, your friends aren’t talking about crypto because it’s crypto winter, but you still see our ATMs in your grocery store or at your gas station. They get those reminders of crypto with physical ATMs which they don’t get with online exchanges.”

BZ: What are your goals for 2022?

“We want to be people’s first entry point to crypto. And we think ATMs are an easy way to do that. We just opened the CoinFlip crypto Experience Center in downtown Tampa, where live crypto guides can help you download a wallet. Some classes are open to the public, either in person or online. So we’re just trying to get as many people into the ecosystem as possible.”

The last word

The masters of crypto are fond of saying that a downmarket is an excellent time to build. For CoinFlip, that seems to be true. We’ve all agreed that crypto projects need to show real utility – but sometimes it’s nice to find a project that adds a physical metaphor to the buying experience, one that crosses the generation gap between finance 30 years ago and today.

BTC ATMs act as 4,000 distributed kiosks for onboarding novices. To those outside the Web3 area who have never heard Bankman-Fried, a Bitcoin ATM at the local dairy can speak louder than any executive in our room.

This story is part of the Benzinga Future of Crypto 2022 Summit related content. Some of the best minds and most important projects in Web3 will be in attendance, including Rarible, Cosmos, Yuga Labs, Solana, Laguna Labs, and Algorand. Keynote speakers include Jordan Belfort, Kevin O’Leary and Anthony Scaramucci.