Bitcoin Depot Inc, once the largest operator of Bitcoin ATMs in the world, watched its stock lose more than 40% in the week before Monday’s bankruptcy announcement, dragging the year-to-date loss to 67%.
When the filing became public, the company’s shares, BTM, dropped an additional 20% in overnight trading. The NASDAQ-listed company had built its business around giving everyday people quick access to Bitcoin through physical kiosks — a model that regulators eventually made impossible to sustain.
The company filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 18 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Its entire network of more than 9,000 Bitcoin teller machines has been taken offline.
A Company Squeezed From Every Direction
CEO Alex Holmes said the decision came after weighing all available options. “After evaluating all options, we determined to initiate this court-supervised process to facilitate an orderly wind-down of operations and a sale of the company’s assets,” Holmes said in a press release.
Both US and Canadian entities are included in the bankruptcy proceedings. The company also plans additional restructuring in Canada and a wind-down of non-US operations under applicable laws.
Holmes pointed to a wave of regulatory pressure as the main driver behind the collapse. Bitcoin ATM operators across North America have faced increasingly strict compliance requirements, including new transaction limits, outright bans in some jurisdictions, enforcement actions, and lawsuits.
Bitcoin Depot responded by tightening its own controls — adding stronger identity verification, customer fraud warnings, and lower transaction caps — but those measures could not reverse the financial damage already done.
Revenue had been falling sharply. Data shows the company posted a 49% year-over-year revenue decline in the first quarter of 2026 and recorded a net loss of $9.5 million in the same period.
Leadership had also been shifting before the collapse. Scott Buchanan stepped down as CEO in March, and Holmes was appointed to lead the company and chair its board. Founder Brandon Mintz moved from executive chair to a non-executive board seat around the same time.
A Wind-Down, Not A Rescue
The bankruptcy filing is not aimed at restructuring the business and keeping it alive. Based on the company’s own statements, the goal is an orderly sale of assets and a full wind-down of operations. No buyer has been publicly named.
Bitcoin Depot’s fall is one of the most visible signs yet of how hard the regulatory environment has hit physical crypto infrastructure businesses. The company once operated one of the largest cash-to-Bitcoin networks in North America. That network is now dark.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
