I've seen them pop up all around me, in small convenience stores and even restaurants. I was wondering if it's a good option to buy a gift for someone else, or are the fees too high and it's not worth it? Also I'm not sure how it works but figuring they give you a private key, and how safe is that?
Honestly Bitcoin ATMs are great for people who like the convenience of it, but I wouldn't recommend for purchasing a gift for someone, just buy BTC elsewhere and have them set up their own wallet before you give it to them, and explain it to them and how to use it especially if they are new to Bitcoin. Not quite related to the question but just for anyone else here who might think Bitcoin ATMs help with anonymity.... you can't really argue the case for anonymity because transactions over 10k get reported but even if they aren't over 10k they still have KYC in place which requires them to know who you are, they will have a picture of your ID in most cases and a phone number. The high fees really aren't attractive at all, I wouldn't ever personally use a Bitcoin ATM to buy/sell crypto because the high fees are awful.