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Coinme, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustrySoftware and technology services
Founded2014; 10 years ago (2014)
Founders
  • Neil Bergquist
  • Michael Smyers
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington, US
Key people
Neil Bergquist (CEO)
Number of employees
86 (2021)[1]

Coinme is a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company offers technology for bitcoin ATMs and kiosks, which allow users to convert cryptocurrency into cash. The company launched one of the first licensed bitcoin ATMs in the U.S.

History

According to co-founders Neil Bergquist and Michael Smyers, after learning about a Canadian bitcoin ATM, they purchased three bitcoin ATMs from a manufacturer in 2014.[2] The two began working with the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions to revise state finance laws and secure a license to operate a kiosk.[3]

Three pilot bitcoin ATM kiosks were situated in the greater Seattle area. One in Spitfire Grill[4] in Belltown, another in Startup Hall at the University of Washington, and the third at Southcenter Mall south of Seattle.[2]

Coinme was formally established in 2014 with Bergquist as CEO[5] and Smyers as vice president of engineering.[2] They deployed and operated nearly 70 Bitcoin ATMs across the Western United States before developing an application programming interface (API) for converting ATMs and kiosks into cryptocurrency exchanging machines.[6]

The first state-licensed Bitcoin ATM in the United States was installed by Coinme at the Spitfire Grill in Seattle, Washington in the spring of 2014. The company later installed a bitcoin-enabled ATM in the Spokane Valley Mall and became the first licensed company in the state of Washington to offer digital currency through ATMs.[7]

Coinme takes a 4 percent transaction fee for every dollar exchanged through its network of ATMs.[8]

By June 2021, Coinme employed 58 people and had raised more than $30 million in investment capital. Coinme investors include Xpring, Blockchain.com Ventures, Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group and MoneyGram International.[citation needed] At the end of 2021, the company was in the latter stages of completing the necessary filings to operate in all U.S. states as a money transfer license (MTL) holder.[9]

In January 2022 the company named Tom Davis, a former IBM executive and FBI special agent, as its first general counsel.[10][11][12] In February 2022, Brian Reisbeck joined the company as chief compliance officer.[13]

In 2023, Coinme was fined $4 million by the SEC for allegedly being involved in unregistered security offerings with UpToken. [14]

Robert Villaseñor joined Coinme in June 2024 as chief legal and compliance officer.[15]

Coinstar

Coinme enabled Coinstar machine selling Bitcoin

Coinstar, an operator of coin-converting kiosks, signed an agreement with Coinme in 2019 to enable consumers to purchase bitcoin at existing Coinstar machines. Coinme-enabled Coinstar machines expanded to a number of states including Connecticut, where more than 90 machines were placed in Stop & Shop and Big Y supermarkets.[16] Coinstar and Coinme announced in October 2021 that Walmart would be putting 200 of the Coinstar-enabled bitcoin kiosks in its stores.[17] By January of 2022, more than 7,000 Coinme-enabled Coinstar kiosks were operating in the United States..[18]

According to Kent & Bain in Bitcoin for Dummies (2022), purchases made through Coinme's Coinstar kiosks charge both a 'transaction fee' and a 'cash convenience fee' which combine to add an additional 12% fee to the cost of any bitcoin bought via the service.[19]

MoneyGram

Payments and money transfer company MoneyGram signed an agreement with Coinme in 2021 to allow customers to load cash into, or out of, bitcoin wallets.[20] from select MoneyGram retail locations in the U.S.[21] In 2022, MoneyGram purchased a 4% stake in Coinme.[22]

Awards and rankings

References

  1. ^ "FT ranking: The Americas' Fastest-Growing Companies 2023". Financial Times. March 27, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "The future of the digital economy — News". willamette.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  3. ^ "Northwest Companies Raise Big Dough With Virtual Currencies Amid Security Warnings". Northwest Public Broadcasting. 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  4. ^ Banse, Tom (2018-10-24). "Belltown Bar Back From The Future With A Bitcoin ATM". kuow.org. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  5. ^ "Neil Bergquist, Coinme, Inc". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  6. ^ "Coinme, a Seattle startup that is 'crypto-enabling' legacy financial services, raises $10M". GeekWire. 2021-06-16. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  7. ^ "Seattle company installs bitcoin ATM at the Spokane Valley Mall | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  8. ^ Danial, Kiana; Laurence, Tiana; Kent, Peter; Bain, Tyler; Solomon, Michael G. (2022-01-19). Cryptocurrency All-in-One For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-85580-4.
  9. ^ "CFO touts controller role as crypto-enabler expands footprint". CFO Dive. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  10. ^ "Cash-to-Crypto Company Picks Former IBM Exec as First GC". Corporate Counsel. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  11. ^ "US crypto exchange hires former FBI special agent as first general counsel". www.globallegalpost.com. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  12. ^ "Coinme hires former FBI agent to keep up with 'rapidly evolving' regulation". CityAM. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  13. ^ Lyudvig, Anna (2022-02-28). "ON THE MOVE: Sal Arnuk to Virtu Financial; CalPERS Adds Nicole Musicco". Traders Magazine. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  14. ^ "Attorney General James Secures $4.3 Million from Cryptocurrency Company for Defrauding Investors". New York State Attorney General. May 18, 2023.
  15. ^ Aislinn Keely (June 26, 2024). "Crypto ATM Co. Coinme Taps MoneyGram Atty As Legal Head". Law360. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  16. ^ Stacom, Don (8 July 2021). "Coinstar bringing bitcoin buying to grocery stores across Connecticut". courant.com. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  17. ^ "Cash is no longer king in the U.S., but will it ever go away?". American Banker. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  18. ^ "Bitcoin & groceries: In NC you can now exchange cash for cryptocurrency at some stores | WRAL TechWire". wraltechwire.com. 2021-06-15. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  19. ^ Kent, Peter; Bain, Tyler (2022-03-02). Bitcoin For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-60214-9.
  20. ^ Marino, Kate (2021-08-11). "MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes says the pandemic accelerated digital innovation". Axios. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  21. ^ Browne, Ryan (2021-05-12). "MoneyGram to let cryptocurrency holders cash in their investments". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  22. ^ "MoneyGram Buys a 4% Stake in Cryptocurrency ATM Operator Coinme". FXEmpire. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-28 – via finance.yahoo.com.
  23. ^ Storer, Mark (November 25, 2021). "Coinme is growing and 'hiring aggressively in all parts of the business'". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  24. ^ "Meet the 150 Economic All-Stars of the Pacific". Inc.com. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
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