- Governor Tim Walz has signed a bipartisan invoice banning crypto kiosks in Minnesota later this yr.
- State officers estimate that Minnesota residents have misplaced practically $1 million over three years to digital foreign money kiosk scams.
- Roughly 350 digital foreign money kiosks function throughout Minnesota, together with roughly 110 digital foreign money kiosks operated by Bitcoin Depot.
Minnesota plans to ban crypto ATMs later this yr after Governor Tim Walz signed a bipartisan invoice focusing on crypto kiosks. The transfer follows warnings from state regulators and native regulation enforcement over losses from fraud associated to machines promoting Bitcoin and different digital belongings.
Officers say scammers usually instruct their victims to deposit money into ATM-style kiosks and change the cash for digital foreign money. As soon as funds are moved on-chain, restoration turns into troublesome and seniors and different victims have restricted choices after sending cash.
Minnesota takes motion after rising variety of scams
Minnesota has roughly 350 crypto kiosks throughout the state. State officers say residents have misplaced practically $1 million to cryptocurrency kiosk scams over the previous three years, with about half of that quantity reported in 2025.
Commerce officers beforehand advised lawmakers that complaints accelerated final yr. They cite 70 complaints in 2025 out of 120 complaints over three years, indicating a pointy enhance in reported losses associated to kiosk-based fraud.
Notably, officers additionally cited nationwide information displaying kiosk-related fraud losses within the first half of 2025 to be roughly $240 million, a tempo roughly double the degrees seen in 2024.
In a 2022 case, a 78-year-old Woodbury lady misplaced greater than $70,000 after scammers posed as Geek Squad representatives. They instructed her to withdraw cash from a Wells Fargo department and deposit it right into a CoinFlip Bitcoin ATM at a fuel station.
Telecommunications carriers search regulation
Cryptocurrency kiosk operators argued for stricter guidelines fairly than an outright ban. Chicago-based CoinFlip, which has greater than 5,500 places within the U.S. and about 50 in Minnesota, urged lawmakers to undertake stronger client protections.
The corporate proposed instruments reminiscent of information evaluation for high-risk transactions, seen fraud warnings, reside buyer help, ID checks for giant transactions, day by day limits, and refund necessities for fraud victims.
“Nobody is saying that the kiosk operators themselves are unhealthy guys. They’re scammers,” Larry Lipka, CoinFlip’s normal counsel, advised lawmakers. He in contrast the issue to fraud in older monetary merchandise reminiscent of ATMs, bank cards, wire transfers and checks.
However lawmakers and regulators mentioned present security measures aren’t stopping the issue. Officers say scammers are luring victims by way of warnings and splitting their transfers into smaller deposits to avoid the restrictions.
Cities and states transfer first
Minnesota is just not the primary state to ban cryptocurrency kiosks. Indiana accepted an analogous ban in March, and Tennessee handed a ban in April that goes into impact in July.
In the meantime, cities in Minnesota had been already shifting in opposition to the machines. The cities of St. Paul and Stillwater accepted native bans, however these ordinances prompted lawsuits from kiosk operators earlier than state regulation took impact.
Bitcoin Depot, which operates about 110 ATM-style cryptocurrency kiosks in Minnesota, sued Stillwater in September. In accordance with the grievance, the corporate argued that the ban would hurt residents who use digital foreign money kiosks.
Nonetheless, Bitcoin Depot later dropped its lawsuit in opposition to Stillwater and St. Paul because the statewide ban progressed. Home sponsor Rep. Erin Kogel bolstered her help for a complete ban, citing an Iowa legal professional normal’s examine that discovered 98 p.c of transactions by way of one kiosk operator had been fraudulent.
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