- Bitcoin Depot, the largest bitcoin ATM operator in North America, filed for Chapter 11 in a Texas court today.
- The entire network of 9,276 ATMs was disabled overnight, and BTM shares fell by 80 percent.
- Q1 2026 revenues decreased by 49 percent year-on-year, gross profit by 85 percent.
- Official reason: state bans, lawsuits by AG Massachusetts and Iowa for supporting scams.
Bitcoin Depot (NASDAQ: BTM), until recently the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court on Sunday night. After the announcement was made in the morning Eastern time, the entire network of 9,276 ATMs was turned off overnight. The company’s shares fell from USD 3 to around USD 0.75 before the opening of the session, i.e. by approximately 80 percent. This is the largest shutdown of crypto-fiat infrastructure in the history of the industry.
The warning signs had been there for months
The proposal did not fall from the sky. On May 12, six days before Chapter 11, Bitcoin Depot informed the SEC that it would not be able to file its Q1 10-Q on time. The company added a formal “going concern” warning, meaning the board has doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern over the next 12 months. The numbers from the preliminary Q1 results were brutal. Revenue declined 49.2 percent year over year, from $164 million to $83 million. Gross profit decreased by 85.5 percent, from USD 31.2 million to USD 4.5 million. The company went from a profit of USD 12.2 million in Q1 2025 to a loss of USD 9.5 million in Q1 2026. Cash was shrinking: from USD 65.6 million in December to USD 44 million in March. In Q4 2025, the company accrued over USD 20 million in court judgments. In addition, in April, USD 3.6 million was stolen from company wallets by hackers.
State bans and lawsuits have killed the business model
CEO Alex Holmes in a statement directly points to state regulations as the direct cause. In March 2026, Indiana became the first U.S. state to completely ban crypto ATMs. Tennessee and Minnesota soon followed. Connecticut suspended Bitcoin Depot’s license after finding that the company charged fees above 15 percent (the state limit) and failed to refund funds to fraud victims. In addition, there are lawsuits filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell from February and the Attorney General of Iowa, in which the company was accused of supporting scams. The background is FBI data: in 2025, Americans filed 13,460 complaints about bitcoin ATMs, with losses of USD 389 million, which is 58% more than the year before. Bitcoin Depot has explained for years that it is introducing better KYC procedures and lower transaction limits. Regulatory statistics showed something different: Bitcoin ATMs have become a favorite tool of telephone fraudsters preying on seniors.
What does this mean for the Polish bitcoin ATM market?
There are actually two scenarios for Polish ATM operators:
- First – they get a license from another EU country and operate on the basis of a European passport.
- Secondly, they close down the business and leave the shopping mall premises empty.
- There is no third option. Even if the Polish Act on Crypto-Assets is not vetoed, such permits will have to be issued for months and there is a slim chance that the future supervisory authority (probably the Polish Financial Supervision Authority) will issue appropriate permits to all interested parties before July 1.
Conclusion for the reader
