Bitcoin Depot, formerly the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America, has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas. The Nasdaq-listed company said it aims to use the process to orderly wind down and liquidate its remaining assets under the court’s supervision.
Bitcoin Depot’s statement revealed that the whole network of Bitcoin ATMs has been put offline. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Atlanta, the company had previously operated more than 9,000 kiosks worldwide and cash-to-bitcoin services at thousands of retail outlets in 47 US states and Canada.
Regulatory Pressure, Revenue Collapse, and a Wallet Breach
CEO Alex Holmes says rapid changes in the regulatory environment have made Bitcoin Depot’s business model “no longer viable.” He points to new state-level rules that tightened compliance requirements, lowered transaction limits, and, in some cases, directly restricted or banned Bitcoin ATM operations, while also driving more litigation and enforcement actions against operators.
Connecticut regulators had already suspended the company’s money transmitter license in March after finding that it charged some users fees above the state’s 15% cap and failed to refund fraud victims fully, ordering its terminals in the state to shut down. Financially, Bitcoin Depot reported preliminary first-quarter revenue of about 83.5 million dollars, down 49.2% year over year, along with a net loss of 9.5 million dollars after posting a 12.2 million dollar profit a year earlier.
Earlier this year, the company also disclosed a 3.7 million dollar crypto wallet breach that hit its balances. It later warned investors of “material deficiencies” in cash transportation and reconciliation that delayed its quarterly report, adding more stress to an already weak balance sheet.
Bitcoin Depot says it has temporarily disabled its BTM network as it moves toward liquidation, with no clear path to restarting the machines. The company has filed standard first-day motions in bankruptcy court and hired Vinson & Elkins as legal counsel, with Portage Point Partners serving as restructuring adviser.
The US court-supervised process now includes the Canadian subsidiaries, and the firm expects to begin formal restructuring procedures in Canada soon. Other non-US entities will wind down under local laws, meaning the shutdown will affect its international footprint as well as its US footprint
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