Share this article

German Regulator Seizes Crypto ATMs

Germany's financial regulator BaFin is seizing bitcoin ATMs run by "Shitcoins Club" months after ordering its operator to cease trading crypto.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 9:41 a.m. Published Aug 6, 2020, 4:23 p.m.
A shitcoins.club crypto ATM (shitcoins.club)
A shitcoins.club crypto ATM (shitcoins.club)

Germany's financial regulator BaFin is seizing bitcoin ATMs run by "Shitcoins Club" months after ordering its Polish operator to cease trading crypto in the country.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

  • On Wednesday, authorities began shuttering "Shitcoins Club" storefronts and seizing its bitcoin ATM machinery, a BaFin official confirmed with CoinDesk, for allegedly operating without banking or proprietary trading licenses.
  • BaFin ordered Shitcoins' parent company KKT UG to cease all German crypto trading operations in February. But CEO Adam Gramowski flaunted regulators' demands and kept his kiosks running, according to financial news site Handelsblatt. Gramowski did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.
  • The action will likely take a substantial portion of Germany's crypto ATMs offline. Shitcoins Club has around 17 bitcoin, litecoin and ether ATMs in the country; Germany as a whole has only 67 operational bitcoin ATMs.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb

Coinbase

The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.

What to know:

  • Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
  • The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
  • Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.