Simon Malls Has 5 New Bitcoin ATMs With Bitstop Partnership

Crypto ATM provider Bitstop is rolling out new machines in partnership with the U.S.'s largest retail shopping mall operator.

Bitstop installed five bitcoin ATMs in Simon Property Group locations over the past month - in Carlsbad Premium Outlets in Carlsbad, California, Mall of Georgia in Buford, Georgia, Miami International Mall in Miami, Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, and The Avenues in Jacksonville, Florida - expanding the company's exposure to first-time bitcoiners as it eyes a booming crypto ATM market.

They're part of Bitstop's drive to woo crypto newcomers: people who shop in malls, don't understand blockchain and have never opened a bitcoin wallet, according to co-founder and CEO Andrew Barnard.

"Once you put these ATMs down and you give people easy access, the people go and figure out how to use it," Barnard said.

With these new locations, Barnard says Bitstop is continuing to build out exposure among newcomers and handhold them through the process of buying their first bitcoin.

Placing them in malls in time for the holiday shopping season positions Bitstop for a customer influx.

"Having it at a mall makes people go, 'wow, I guess bitcoin is going to be around for a long time,'" he said.

Bitstop is one of the older players in the American Bitcoin ATM sphere.

Barnard said the company launched in 2013 and installed its first bitcoin ATM two years later, in Florida.

Bitcoin ATMs are a rapidly-growing corner of the retail crypto space.