By
Bena Ilyas
April 18th, 2024
The company has a huge presence around Europe. With the European Union block ready to adopt crypto, companies are preparing to take up emerging opportunities.
Media Markt, a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in Europe, is set to roll out 12 Bitcoin ATMs in Austria. According to a local media outlet, Media Markt will install Bitcoin ATMs across its twelve branches in the country.
Austria is among Europe’s leading countries in adopting Bitcoin and rolling out ATMs. According to data provided by Coinatmradar.com, the country has 139 ATMs in operation. The most coins available in the ATM exchange include Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, XRP, Dash, and Dogecoin. Notably, almost half of the ATMs in Austria are located in Vienna, with 65 units.
Other cities with a notable number of crypto ATMs include Innsbruck, Linz, and Graz with 13, 14, and 14 ATMs respectively.
Notably, the Bitcoin ATM rollout will be made possible through a partnership with Kurant. Kurant was founded as a spin-off of Coinfinity back in 2017. Over the years, the firm has grown to around 200 Bitcoin ATMs in Austria, Spain, Greece, and Germany.
The company is testing the viability of Bitcoin ATMs in its outlets and is likely to roll out the rest later. Moreover, the crypto user base is growing and customers are willing to make purchases with their digital assets.
The company has a huge presence around Europe. With the European Union block ready to adopt crypto, companies are preparing to take up emerging opportunities.
Although some crypto transactions are cheaper than the mainstream banks, the sheer volume compensates for that. Furthermore, the crypto market has registered higher growth than any other market, more so during the Covid crisis.
Media Markt and the Growing Crypto Market
Founded back in 1979 by Leopold Stiefel, Walter Gunz, Erich Kellerhals, and Helga Kellerhals, Media Markt is now a subsidiary of Ceconomy and operates in 13 European countries. Most of its stores measure up to 8,000 square meters.
As an innovative electronic store, the company had to put some energy into crypto, because of the increasing demand. By adopting technology before its competitors, Media Markt has been able to remain in the market.
Nonetheless, the journey has not been a smooth ride for Media Markt. Last year, the company was crippled by ransomware attackers, who asked for $240 million in ransom. Astonishingly, the attacker was paid a whopping $50 million after negotiations.
Bitcoin ATMs have significantly increased over the past few years. As CoinATMradar notes, there are 36,810 Bitcoin ATMs around the world. Worth noting, that the majority of the Bitcoin ATMs are located in the United States, with the number at 35,304 units as of reporting time.