Your cash goes to the ATM operator, who then releases Bitcoin from their own reserves to your wallet. Key Economic Distinctions
Your dollars are moved into the exchange's bank account and then credited to the internal account of the person selling the asset. where does the money go when you buy bitcoin
A small portion (usually less than 1%) is kept by the exchange as a service fee. Brokerage Models: Your cash goes to the ATM operator, who
All Bitcoin originally enters the market through miners. When you buy "newly" minted Bitcoin, you are essentially paying a miner for the computational work they performed to create that block. Ownership Risk: "The IOU" Brokerage Models: All Bitcoin originally enters the market
When buying on an exchange, your money stays on traditional banking "rails". The exchange simply updates its internal "spreadsheet" to show you own a piece of their Bitcoin pool.
Real blockchain fees only occur when you withdraw your Bitcoin to a private wallet. These small amounts of BTC (not your initial fiat deposit) go to miners who secure the network.
The destination of your funds depends entirely on how you conduct the purchase: