ATMs and crypto ATMs have become everyday gateways to money, whether in the form of cash or digital currency. People approach them with the same expectation: that they will work instantly and without interruption. A smooth transaction builds trust, but the moment a machine goes offline, the damage is immediate. Customers walk away frustrated, operators lose revenue, and regulators see gaps in the records they require.
In busy cities or high-traffic venues, even a short outage can have an outsized impact. Traditional ATMs may fail to authorize withdrawals, while crypto ATMs may stall on wallet confirmations or payment links. In both cases, the result is the same: downtime costs money, erodes confidence, and pushes customers toward competitors.
For operators, uptime isn’t just a performance metric. It is the core of the business, and the key to keeping every transaction, and every customer, moving forward.
In this article, we’ll explore why downtime is so costly and what makes it such a serious risk for ATM and crypto ATM operators.
Table of Contents
- The Financial Cost of ATM and Crypto ATM Downtime
- Why ATM Downtime Creates Compliance Risks and Damages Customer Trust
- Real-World Examples of ATM Downtime
- How ATM Downtime Impacts Banks, Retail, and Local Economies
- Conclusion: Safeguarding What You Can Control
The Financial Cost of ATM and Crypto ATM Downtime
Traditional ATMs – How Downtime Impacts Revenue
Independent ATMs in the U.S. operate on thin margins, where every transaction counts. On average, a machine handles 160–180 transactions per month, generating about $432 in surcharge revenue at a fee of $2.70 per withdrawal. Other studies suggest some locations see closer to 300 monthly transactions, which translates to about $900 in gross revenue and roughly $600 in net profit once costs are deducted.
Transaction fees are generally modest, falling between $2 and $3 per withdrawal, but in high-demand environments, such as casinos, nightclubs, or airports, they can climb to $5 or more. That may not sound like much, but when you multiply it by hundreds of withdrawals, the daily revenue quickly adds up.
This is why downtime is so damaging. A single afternoon of network failure in a high-traffic venue can erase hundreds of dollars in lost surcharges, equivalent to several days’ profit. For independent operators especially, where machines are often placed in competitive locations, every lost hour can directly undermine monthly earnings.
Crypto ATMs – Why Downtime Is Especially Costly
The economics of crypto ATMs are even more striking. Operators typically charge a 6–10% spread on transactions, plus a flat fee of $3–$8. With just 140–200 transactions per month, that can add up to $600–$1,200 in profit. In busier markets, the numbers climb much higher. A single machine processing $50,000 in transactions each month at a 10% operator fee generates around $5,000 in gross revenue.
Zooming out, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City estimates that U.S. Bitcoin ATMs bring in $6,125 per machine each month, contributing to a $3.6 billion annual industry revenue.
This model also makes crypto ATMs especially vulnerable to downtime. Most customers approach these kiosks impulsively, perhaps deciding on the spot to purchase Bitcoin or another token. If the machine is down, they rarely return later. Instead, they walk to another operator’s kiosk or abandon the purchase altogether. In this market, one missed sale is usually a lost sale forever, making every hour of connectivity downtime disproportionately costly.
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Why ATM Downtime Creates Compliance Risks and Damages Customer Trust
The impact of downtime stretches far beyond a few missed transaction fees. For ATM and crypto ATM operators, every machine also represents a compliance obligation. Traditional ATMs are expected to keep precise records of withdrawals and deposits for auditing and fraud prevention. Crypto ATMs face even stricter oversight, since every transaction must comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. When a machine goes offline mid-transaction, it can leave incomplete or corrupted records, gaps that invite regulatory scrutiny and potential fines.
Connectivity is also central to data security. Payment links and transaction logs rely on an uninterrupted connection to maintain encryption. A short outage can break this chain, raising the risk of data exposure or incomplete transfers. According to Splunk and Oxford Economics, companies lose an average of $22 million annually in regulatory fines directly tied to downtime failures. For operators, this underlines how critical it is to keep every machine online, not just for revenue, but for compliance protection.
Perhaps the most immediate consequence, however, is reputational. Customers approach ATMs and crypto kiosks with an expectation of instant reliability. When they meet an error screen, the trust they had in the brand takes a hit. In competitive areas, urban centers with multiple kiosks side by side, most people won’t wait or return later. They move to the next available machine, and the operator loses more than just that transaction, they lose future business. Splunk’s research confirms this pattern: 41% of technology executives say customers are often the first to detect downtime, and 29% of companies report losing customers because of it.
For both traditional and crypto ATMs, uptime is not simply about operational efficiency, it is directly tied to compliance, customer loyalty, and long-term business survival.
Real-World Examples of ATM Downtime
Downtime is not a rare event. Across different years and regions, ATMs have gone offline due to connectivity and system failures, leaving customers without access to their money:
- Australia – Telstra network failure (2019): A nationwide outage of Australia’s largest telecom provider disrupted electronic payments and left ATMs across the country unable to process transactions. Shops, restaurants, and banks had to wait for services to return before customers could pay or withdraw cash (SBS News).
- United States – Chase Bank system issue (September 2023): A technology fault at JPMorgan Chase temporarily prevented customers from using many of the bank’s 16,000 ATMs. Large numbers of machines were unavailable until the issue was resolved, frustrating customers nationwide (Newsmax).
- Italy – Worldline outage (November 2024): A failure in Worldline’s data connections, traced to damaged supplier network cables, caused widespread problems with ATMs and point-of-sale terminals. Customers across Italy faced failed transactions until connectivity was restored (UIS Journal).
- Japan – Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (April 2025): A system failure at SMBC disrupted ATM services in about 50 branches across Hyogo and Osaka prefectures, alongside online banking disruptions. Even one of Japan’s largest financial institutions was not immune to the risks of system downtime (ATM Marketplace).
- Spain & Portugal – Major blackout (April 2025): A massive power outage knocked out not only electricity but also internet and mobile services across Iberia, leaving ATMs inoperable for hours. Customers were unable to withdraw money or complete payments until the grid was restored (AP News).
These examples, spread over several years and continents, show that ATM downtime is not an isolated risk but a constant challenge. Whether caused by telecom outages, internal system failures, or infrastructure breakdowns, the result is the same: customers lose access, operators lose revenue, and trust in financial systems takes a hit.
How ATM Downtime Impacts Banks, Retail, and Local Economies
When ATMs go offline, the problem doesn’t stay contained to the machine itself. The recent outages in Australia, the United States, Italy, Japan, and Iberia all showed the same pattern: the moment customers lose access to cash or payment services, the disruption spreads outward.
Retailers see abandoned purchases when people can’t pay. Restaurants and hotels struggle with transactions, leading to longer lines and frustrated guests. Public transport and parking kiosks, many of which rely on the same payment networks, suddenly stop working. What begins as a network or system issue in the banking sector quickly becomes a broader problem for local economies.
Equally important is perception. Customers rarely distinguish between one operator’s outage and the wider financial system. A frozen ATM screen feels like a failure of the network as a whole. Repeated incidents chip away at public trust, creating doubt about whether financial infrastructure is as reliable as it should be.
These ripple effects underline the stakes for operators: when an ATM goes down, the consequences extend well beyond a single failed transaction. Entire communities and industries feel the disruption, and customer confidence erodes quickly.
Conclusion: Safeguarding What You Can Control
Downtime can strike for many reasons. Some, like power blackouts or upstream processor failures, may be beyond the control of individual operators. Yet one major cause of outages can be managed directly: connectivity.
The majority of ATM disruptions happen when machines lose their network link, leaving customers unable to withdraw cash or complete transactions. This is where operators have the power to act. By implementing secure internet backup and equipping ATMs with multi-carrier SIM technology, they can keep machines online even if one provider’s service fails.
Safeguarding connectivity is the most effective way for operators to prevent avoidable downtime. It not only protects revenue but also shields customer trust, ensuring that when people need access to their money, the ATM is ready to deliver.