Gradually there will be some 1,500 ATMs installed in El Salvador. Athena Bitcoin will hire staff and open an office to carry out operations in El Salvador, which in June became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. The move takes effect in September. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said:
“presented us with a tough challenge of 1,500 ATMs, we will go for that, but in phases. We are a private company and we want to ensure that our development in the country is sustainable,”
A year ago Athena installed its first cryptocurrency ATM in El Salvador’s El Zonte beach, some 49 km (30 mi) southwest of capital San Salvador, as part of an experiment called Bitcoin Beach aimed at making the town one of the world’s first bitcoin economies.
