Coinme vs Anytime Capital

Coinme started in Seattle in 2014, when it opened what it describes as the first state-licensed Bitcoin ATM in the country at a bar in Belltown after months of chasing a money transmitter license. It then did something no other operator managed: instead of placing its own machines, it put a Bitcoin option on Coinstar coin-counting kiosks and later on MoneyGram counters, giving it the largest cash-to-crypto footprint in the United States through grocery and retail stores. A debit card app followed for buying without cash.

That reach is the whole pitch, and it comes with a shape. Coinme is custodial: cash at a kiosk becomes a voucher, the voucher is redeemed into a Coinme wallet after phone and ID verification, and the coins stay there until you send them out. Fees are high because every party in the chain takes a cut. And the company's home-state regulator, Washington's Department of Financial Institutions, issued a temporary cease-and-desist in late 2025 alleging Coinme had booked more than $8 million of unredeemed voucher balances as its own income; Coinme called it an accounting dispute over a discontinued product and the order was paused by agreement while it is resolved. In January 2026 Polygon Labs announced it would acquire Coinme as part of a deal worth more than $250 million.

Anytime Capital also takes cash, which is why the comparison is worth making. It is a U.S. money services business that sells to customers worldwide, with a storefront on Piedmont Road in Atlanta where you can hand cash across a desk, a cash-by-mail option from anywhere in the country, a phone number that reaches a person, and a non-custodial wallet so the coins are yours when the order settles. It also takes cards, ACH, wire, Cash App, Apple Pay and Google Pay, which Coinme mostly does not.

Coinme's pricing depends on which door you use. At a Coinstar kiosk, Coinstar's own FAQ describes a 4% transaction fee plus a spread set by the crypto provider, and the all-in cash exchange fee is widely reported at 16.5% at many locations, varying by store and amount. At a MoneyGram counter it is a 4% fee plus $2.75, capped at $400 per transaction and $2,000 per day. Coinme Cash at a retail register is reported around 5% plus a flat retailer fee of $2.95 to $4.74. In the app, a debit purchase carries a reported 1.49% exchange fee and a 3.25% card processing fee, with a roughly 4% spread in the quoted price, for a total near 8.7%.

Anytime Capital's pricing starts from 4% with the spread included and applies whether you pay with cash at the branch, cash by mail, a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, with one number for what you pay and one for what you receive. On $500 in cash that is from $20 here against roughly $82 at a kiosk charging 16.5%. On a $1,000 app debit purchase it is from $40 here against about $87 at Coinme including the spread. On a $10,000 order Anytime Capital would move you to a same-day wire through the OTC desk.

Coinme's fee for sending coins out of its wallet is the network fee, but the coins are only yours once you do send them. That is the second cost, and it is the one the reviews are about.

Coinme takes cash at Coinstar kiosks, MoneyGram counters and participating retail registers, and debit cards in its app. That is it. There is no Apple Pay, no Google Pay, no credit card, no ACH, no wire and no Cash App, and the app does not link a bank account. For a customer with cash and no bank, that is the point. For everyone else it is a narrow menu with a high price.

Anytime Capital accepts cash in person at the Atlanta branch, cash by mail from anywhere in the country, Apple Pay, Google Pay, debit and credit cards, ACH, domestic wire and Cash App. Wires settle the same business day. If you have cash, you have two ways to use it; if you have a bank account, you have six more.

Coinme's Trustpilot profile holds around 2.2 out of 5 across roughly 1,060 reviews, with negative reviews slightly outnumbering positive ones, and the worst reviews share a sequence. A customer fed cash into a kiosk, verified with a phone number, opened the app to redeem, and found the account locked for a security review with the cash already gone into the machine. Getting past the automated help flow to a person is described as the hard part. The positive reviews are from people for whom it simply worked, who value being able to buy Bitcoin at the grocery store with no bank account.

At Anytime Capital the cash changes hands across a desk at 2549 Piedmont Road NE, or arrives by mail to a company you can call at (470) 748-2530 during business hours and reach someone who can see the order. For larger orders the OTC desk gives you a named contact from quote to settlement. Nobody's money sits in a machine waiting for a chat bot.

Coinme's app is a custodial wallet with a buy and sell function, and its MoneyGram tie-in lets you sell Bitcoin for cash at a counter, which is a genuinely useful feature for the unbanked. What it does not offer is a dollar account, a debit card, or a wallet where you hold the keys; the coins live with Coinme until you move them.

Anytime Capital customers get an FDIC-insured cash account with a free virtual debit card, a non-custodial wallet, and buy and sell in the same app, including selling Bitcoin for cash. Turning cash into Bitcoin and, later, Bitcoin back into dollars you can spend does not require a kiosk, a voucher or a counter. More than 8,000 trades have gone through that process.

Choose Coinme if you have cash and no bank account, there is a Coinstar or MoneyGram on your way home, you are buying a small amount, and you can accept a kiosk fee in the mid-teens for the convenience of doing it tonight. Its MoneyGram sell-for-cash option is also useful if you need dollars in hand in a town with no crypto business.

For anyone who wants pricing from 4% with the spread included, a wallet they control, a phone number, and, in the U.S., the choice of walking into a branch or mailing the cash, start below.