Last Updated on January 1, 2023 by Bitfinsider

El Salvador, the first nation to legalize Bitcoin, has dropped yet another position in terms of the total number of crypto ATM installations as Australia reports 216 ATMs as we approach 2023.

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador made the decision to place more than 200 cryptocurrency ATMs across the nation as part of his effort to make Bitcoin a legal tender. El Salvador was at the time, in September 2021, the third-largest center for cryptocurrency ATMs after the United States and Canada, but in 2022, Spain and Australia passed El Salvador in terms of ATM number.

Spain installed 215 crypto ATMs, making it the third-largest hub as of October 2022. However, Spain kept up its installation campaign and, as of this writing, has 226 crypto ATMs. El Salvador’s reign as the fourth-largest center for crypto ATMs was brief because Australia improved during the ensuing months.

According to data from CoinATMRadar, Australia installed 99 cryptocurrency ATMs in the final three months of 2022. Australia had 219 active crypto ATMs as of January 1, 2023, outnumbering El Salvador by 7 ATMs as of this writing.

At this rate, Asia’s 312 crypto ATMs, which make up 0.6% of all installations worldwide, might be surpassed by Australia’s 0.6% share. There are currently 38,602 crypto ATMs operating worldwide, 6,071 of which were set up in 2022.

The government of Nigeria was compelled to cap ATM cash withdrawals to $225 (100,000 naira) every week as a result of the country’s efforts to compel the adoption of its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), known as eNaira.

Haruna Mustafa, the director of banking supervision, said: ““Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”