There's a version of the Crypto Dispensers story that fits neatly into a pitch deck. Visionary founder. White space opportunity. Hyper-growth. The version I actually lived is messier, more instructive, and, I think, more worth telling.

September 12, 2017: One Machine at a Mall

The first Crypto Dispensers Bitcoin ATM went live at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois on September 12, 2017. Woodfield is the largest mall in Illinois, high foot traffic, diverse demographics, the kind of place where a Bitcoin ATM could theoretically catch someone who'd heard about Bitcoin but didn't know how to get any.

The operative word is theoretically. The first months were humbling. A Bitcoin ATM at a mall is a curiosity. People stop, read the instructions, take photos, and walk away. Converting curiosity into a transaction took time, and patience we didn't know we'd need.

But something was there. The people who used it weren't crypto enthusiasts. They were ordinary people who wanted a small amount of Bitcoin and had cash in their wallets. They didn't have Coinbase accounts. They didn't know what a private key was. They wanted the simplest possible transaction: give money, get Bitcoin.

That observation shaped everything that came after.

2018-2019: Learning to Scale Slowly

We expanded across mall networks, Simon Properties, Brookfield Properties, Tanger Outlets. If you walked through a major Illinois mall between 2018 and 2019, you probably walked past one of our machines.

What we were really doing during this period was learning the unit economics of Bitcoin ATM operation. Location costs. Machine maintenance. Compliance overhead. Cash logistics. Every variable that makes the difference between a machine that makes money and one that doesn't.

We also learned the limitations of the ATM model. Machines can only go where locations will have them. The highest-need communities, dense urban neighborhoods, rural towns, low-income zip codes, were exactly the communities that wouldn't qualify for mall placement. We were serving the suburbs when the need was everywhere else.

2020: The Invention That Changed the Company

BitcoinPOP started as a question: why do we need a machine at all?

Cash collection at retail POS is a solved problem. Greendot, PayNearMe, and a dozen other fintech companies had figured out how to turn a retail register into a payment terminal for any number of services. We applied the same model to Bitcoin.

The result: a user generates a barcode in the Crypto Dispensers app, brings it and cash to a CVS or Rite Aid counter, and walks out with Bitcoin. No machine. No ATM fees. Accessible anywhere the retail partner operates.

That was 16,000 locations from day one, and it immediately dwarfed our ATM network in both reach and volume.

2021-2024: Building the Platform

The web platform launched in 2021, adding debit card, credit card, ACH, and wire transfer options alongside cash. Integrations with Paybis, Transak, and Cybrid brought the same experience to users in 159 countries. We crossed one million registered users.

In 2024, we converted from LLC to C-Corp, obtained SOC 2 Type II certification, and announced a $5M Series A at a $25M valuation. The mobile app is in development.

None of that is the story. The story is that we built a company for the 60 million Americans the financial system doesn't want to serve, and they showed up. That's the thing that matters. Everything else is a detail.