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El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to give legal tender status to Bitcoin. With BTC now accepted as a mode of payment in the country along with the U.S. dollar, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele wants 1,500 crypto ATM installed in the country allowing citizens easy access to the world’s largest crypto by market cap.
Athena Bitcoin, an operator of BTC automated teller machines (ATMs) has been tapped for the project. The Chicago-based firm plans to eventually install 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador but it will do it in phases and will initially dozens of machines as a test, according to Reuters.
The company plans to invest over $1 million for the installation of 1,500 crypto ATMs in the country. Athena Bitcoin will prioritize areas in El Salvador where residents receive remittances from abroad, according to a company representative.
Athena Bitcoin will also hire staff and open an office in El Salvador. This setup is necessary to maintain the operations of its 1,500 crypto ATMs in the country.
Once the installation is completed, El Salvador will have a higher ratio of crypto ATMs per population. “If adoption gets traction, 1,500 ATMs is roughly one in every 4,000 people,” Athena’s director for Latin America Matias Goldenhorn said, according to Coindesk. “In the U.S. we used to do one in every 150,000, then one in every 100,000 … But here it could be even more.”
The executive also revealed that each country presents a different set of challenges for the firm. “In every [Latin American] country I’ve taken the company it’s a completely different ball game and we need to be very creative to be able to stay afloat,” said Goldenhorn.
While the company’s operations in the U.S. remain profitable, Athena Bitcoin decided to expand its business internationally. “We truly believe in the mission of taking this to the people who need it the most,” Goldenhorn said.
