Australia, the country that hosts the third-largest network of Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs, surpassed the continent of Asia in terms of the total number of crypto ATMs installed.
Since the beginning of 2023, Australia has been on a crypto ATM installation spree, climbing from fifth to third in January alone. Data from Coin ATM Radar confirms that the country has kept up the effort to install avenues for fiat-to-crypto conversions.
Over the last eight months, Australia consistently added Bitcoin ATMs, unlike leading European nations and the United States, which reported a reduction in ATM installations during that timeline.
Asia, which includes major economies such as China, Japan, Singapore and India, hosts 355 crypto machines, representing 1% of the total crypto ATMs installed worldwide. After months of additions, Australia recorded 364 crypto ATMs.
Contradicting Australia’s crypto ATM growth, the total crypto ATMs installed worldwide showed a consistent decline. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, in the first two months of 2023, the net cryptocurrency ATMs installed globally reduced by 412 machines.
Related: Australian crypto scams increased by over 162% with nearly $150M lost
Complementing the country’s massive increase in crypto ATMs, leaked internal documents from Australia’s Department of the Treasury revealed crypto legislation is on the horizon.
As reported by Cointelegraph, the Australian government plans to release consultation papers in the second quarter of 2023. The move seems plausible as the treasury had officially released a token mapping consultation paper, forming the basis of upcoming crypto regulations.
Consultation open! Today we released the token mapping consultation paper. This consultation is part of a multi step reform agenda to develop an appropriate regulatory setting for the #crypto sector. Read paper & submit views @ https://t.co/4W2msjhP9B @ASIC_Connect @AUSTRAC pic.twitter.com/OGHuZEGvDp
— Australian Treasury (@Treasury_AU) February 2, 2023
However, the final submissions to the cabinet will reportedly come later in the year, which implies that any decisions on crypto legislation will be pushed to 2024.
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