Cryptomat is the brand most people in Georgia mean when they say “crypto ATM”. Its machines stand in supermarkets and malls from Gldani to Batumi’s Chavchavadze Street, and for many residents it was their first contact with Bitcoin. This review looks at the operator itself: who it is, what it does better than anyone else in the country, where it is weak, and when you should use something else. For the practical walkthrough — step-by-step buying, the full map and the sell-machine addresses — see our crypto ATM guide.
Cryptomat at a glance
The operating company is Cryptomat LLC (company ID 431178209), headquartered at Murman Lebanidze Street 19 in Tbilisi. On the NBG register it is permitted to exchange fiat and crypto “including via kiosks” and to carry out transfers. It does not have permission for custody, a trading platform or crypto-to-crypto swaps — which fits a pure ATM business that never holds your coins for you.
The website moved from cryptomat.ge to cryptomat.com. It is essentially a location directory: city, address, host store, whether a site is indoor or outdoor, opening hours (some marked 24 H), the coins on offer and whether the machine is Buy or Buy & Sell. Our count split roughly 45 indoor and 111 outdoor sites.
What Cryptomat does well
Coverage nobody else matches. With 133 machines in Tbilisi alone, you’re rarely more than a short walk or a marshrutka stop from one in the capital. They sit in everyday places — Nikora, Spar, Libre, Daily, Drive, Gorgia, Pixel and City Mall — rather than in a single office you have to find. Outside Tbilisi there are 11 machines in Batumi, 5 in Rustavi, 3 in Kutaisi, 2 in Telavi and one each in Gori and Zugdidi.
Cash in, coins out, nothing to sign up for. For small amounts you need a phone number and your own wallet address, nothing more. There’s no account to open, no app to install and no card payment that your bank might query. For someone who wants their first 50 or 100 GEL of Bitcoin, that’s the shortest path in Georgia.
Both USDT networks. Every machine lists USDT on TRC-20TRC-20USDT issued on the Tron network. Cheap and fast transfers, which is why most OTC and property deals in Georgia quote TRC-20. and ERC-20ERC-20Tokens on the Ethereum network. Widely supported but network fees can be several dollars per transfer.. That matters because most people in Georgia receive and send USDT on Tron, where the network feeNetwork feeThe fee paid to the blockchain itself to process a transfer (also called gas). It goes to miners/validators, not to the exchange. is usually far lower than on Ethereum.
A clearly displayed registration. The site footer shows “License: 0005-9404” and links to a scan of the NBG document. Since 1 January 2026 the NBG has required every registered provider to display its registration at kiosks, websites and apps, and Cryptomat was showing its number on the site when we checked.
Some machines buy back. Unlike what older guides say, a handful of locations will pay out lari for your crypto — nine in Tbilisi malls and one at West Point in Kutaisi.
Where Cryptomat falls short
Fees are invisible. There is no fee table anywhere on cryptomat.com. The cost is baked into the rate shown on screen, and the only public estimate — roughly 6–12% including the spreadSpreadThe gap between the buy and sell price. A desk that buys USDT at 2.57 GEL and sells at 2.62 GEL earns a 0.05 GEL spread on each coin., from a Georgian guide — is secondary. That makes Cryptomat the most expensive mainstream way to buy crypto in Georgia by a wide margin, and you can’t compare it without doing the arithmetic yourself at the machine.
Limits aren’t published either. Minimums, daily caps, the point at which a passport is required — none of it is on the site. The figures in circulation (phone-only up to about 1,000–2,000 GEL, passport above) come from the same secondary guide.
Only five coins. BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH and USDT. No Dogecoin, Solana, XRP, Gram (ex-TON), Pi or USDC, and no LightningLightning NetworkA layer on top of Bitcoin for near-instant, very cheap payments. Useful for small amounts, not for buying property. for Bitcoin. If you want anything beyond the big names, a machine won’t help.
Selling is a Tbilisi privilege. About ten of roughly 150 machines are Buy & Sell, and all but one are in the capital. Batumi — the city with the most foreign visitors and the most crypto-priced property listings — has 11 machines, all buy-only. Rustavi’s five are buy-only too.
Thin documentation. The how-to guide and the licence scan are image-only files, and the sell process (how many confirmations, whether you wait at the machine) isn’t explained in text. Different snapshots of the location list also disagree on which machines are sell-enabled, so check the label on the day.
What it costs in practice
Because the margin is in the rate, the right way to judge Cryptomat is by what lands in your wallet. Use the calculator below with your own amount; it assumes 8%, the midpoint of the secondary estimate.
At 8%, 1,000 GEL at the machine buys roughly what 920 GEL would buy at market price. The same 1,000 GEL topped up to a local exchange via TBC Pay or BOG Pay carries no deposit fee at Cryptal, and 2% with a Georgian bank card — before that exchange’s own trading costs, which it doesn’t publish on its fee page. The difference grows linearly: on 5,000 GEL it’s several hundred lari.
Licence, ownership and the Cryptal connection
Cryptomat’s website links to Cryptal, an online exchange run by Digital Ledger Technologies LLC (company ID 431178218, NBG registration 0002-9404). The two firms share a head-office address on Murman Lebanidze Street, and their company IDs are adjacent numbers. That looks like a group structure, but we could not confirm the corporate relationship from a primary source, so we describe Cryptal as a sister brand only in the loose sense that Cryptomat itself promotes it.
The registration itself is solid. Cryptomat appears on the NBG’s register version of 23 October 2026 with kiosk permission. On 8 September 2026 the NBG announced that exchange providers, explicitly including kiosk operators, will need at least GEL 150,000 in supervisory capital and a formal risk-management framework, with existing firms given until 1 September 2027 for the capital. For an operator of Cryptomat’s scale this is a hurdle it is likely to clear, but it’s worth watching our regulation page for changes.
Buy-only versus Buy & Sell machines
The distinction is the single most useful thing to know about Cryptomat. A buy-only machine takes lari and sends you crypto. A Buy & Sell machine also accepts crypto and pays out lari — no dollars, no euros. Secondary figures put the sell limit at roughly 5,000–10,000 GEL, lower than the buy limit.
The Tbilisi sell locations are Galleria Tbilisi, Tbilisi Mall, Goodwill Dighomi, Orbeliani Bazaar, Axis on Kazbegi Avenue, City Mall Saburtalo, City Mall Gldani, Isani Mall and Homemart Vake; outside Tbilisi only West Point on Shartava Street in Kutaisi. Street addresses are in our ATM guide. For a sale of more than a few thousand lari, or anywhere outside these malls, the routes in our cash-out guide are usually cheaper.
Alternatives worth comparing
| Option | What it costs | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Cryptomat ATM | ≈6–12% incl. spread (unofficial) | You have cash and want a small amount fast |
| Cryptal via TBC Pay / BOG Pay | 0% deposit fee | You bank with TBC or BoG and want GEL pricing |
| TBC Bank app (crypto via Bybit Georgia) | Commission-free at launch | You already use TBC mobile banking |
| P2P in lari | ≈0.5% over NBG rate (secondary test) | Larger amounts by bank transfer |
| Exchange office / OTC desk | Margin in the rate | Selling for cash outside Tbilisi malls |
TBC Bank added in-app crypto trading in May 2026 with about 30 assets from $1, executed through Bybit Georgia and commission-free in the launch phase; our banks and crypto guide covers what’s known. If you’d rather pay by card on a global platform, CEX.IO (operating since 2013, NMLS 1804170, FCA registration FRN 1007192) takes Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay — it has no GEL wallet and isn’t on the NBG register, so expect a currency conversion on your card. Our exchange comparison puts the main options side by side.
Want to compare a card purchase with the ATM rate?Check the amount you'd receive before you head to a machine.
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Our verdict
Cryptomat is the right tool for a narrow job: turning a few hundred lari of cash into BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH or USDT quickly, without an account, almost anywhere in Tbilisi. Its registration is in order and clearly displayed, and the Buy & Sell machines in Tbilisi malls are a genuine option for small cash-outs.
For everything else it is expensive and opaque. The lack of a published fee or limit table is the biggest mark against it — a registered provider with 150 machines could easily post one. If you buy regularly, buy more than a couple of thousand lari, want coins beyond the big five, or live in Batumi and need to sell, use a registered exchange, your bank app or a P2P sale instead. Our guide to buying crypto with cash shows how PayBox and TBC Pay terminals compare for people who prefer paying in notes.
