Coinstar is a long-established operator of self-service kiosks located in retail environments across the United States. The company was recently acquired by Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) as of February 2026. Their primary offering is converting loose coins into cash at convenient retail locations, eliminating the need for customers to count, sort, or roll coins manually.
Beyond coin conversion, Coinstar kiosks now provide an expanding suite of financial services. These include eGift Card exchanges (with some no-fee options), cryptocurrency purchases through partnerships with Coinme and their CINQ by Coinstar platform, Amazon Cash loading, direct charity donations, account transfers to checking accounts, and a proprietary CINQ debit card. The company explicitly states they do not exchange gift cards or foreign currency. Most services require downloading a companion mobile app before visiting a kiosk.
Coinstar distinguishes itself through the ubiquity and accessibility of its kiosk network at grocery stores and retail locations, offering immediate service without appointment scheduling. The multi-service model converts what was traditionally a coin-exchange business into a broader financial services platform, including cryptocurrency access and account funding options. Their partnership ecosystem (Amazon, U.S. Bank, Zero Hash, Coinme) extends their service reach.
The primary limitation is that this is strictly a kiosk-based, self-service model with no human customer support at the point of transaction. Fees vary by location and service type, which creates pricing uncertainty. The requirement to download apps before visiting adds friction for less tech-savvy users. While positioned as a financial services platform, Coinstar fundamentally remains a cash-access and conversion utility rather than a full-service financial institution.