Minnesota Moves to Wipe Bitcoin ATMs Off the Map

A bill that could eliminate every cryptocurrency kiosk in Minnesota cleared its first legislative hurdle this week, and the reasoning behind it cuts closer to the industry’s reputation problem than most operators would like to admit.

Representative Erin Koegel (DFL-Spring Lake Park) brought HF 3642 before the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee on February 27, proposing a full statewide ban on the placement and operation of physical cryptocurrency kiosks.

The bill has since been laid over for further consideration, standard procedure, not a rejection, but the testimony heard in that committee room was pointed enough to signal where this is heading.

The Case Against Kiosks

Law enforcement testimony before the committee painted a specific picture: scammers identifying vulnerable targets, usually elderly residents, and directing them to Bitcoin ATMs to convert cash into cryptocurrency before the victim fully understands what’s happening. Once that transaction clears, the funds are effectively gone. No reversal. No recourse.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce isn’t treating this as an edge case. The department reported 70 fraud complaints tied to cryptocurrency kiosks in 2025 alone, with total documented losses exceeding $540,000 across those cases. Sam Smith, the department’s government relations director, offered what amounted to an institutional admission: the current regulatory framework has not worked. His testimony described the department’s “strong support” for the ban, language that rarely comes from a regulatory body unless the data has become hard to argue with.

Currently, Minnesota’s 2024 statutes govern kiosk operators through disclosure requirements and a $2,000 daily transaction cap. HF 3642 would repeal nearly two dozen sections of that framework entirely. The argument is not that the rules need updating. The argument is that the rules, as written, cannot solve the problem they were designed to address.

What’s Actually on the Line

Approximately 350 licensed kiosks operate across Minnesota today, run by eight to ten companies. A full ban removes all of them. For the operators, that’s a complete market exit. For consumers who rely on kiosks for legitimate transactions, and they do exist, particularly among unbanked populations, it creates a real gap.

Representative Koegel drew a deliberate line in her presentation: the bill targets physical kiosks only. Online cryptocurrency platforms, exchanges, and digital transactions would remain fully accessible under HF 3642. That distinction matters for how the legislation will likely be framed going forward. This is not a crypto ban. It is a physical infrastructure ban, driven by a specific fraud vector that online platforms don’t replicate in the same way.

Whether that framing holds up as the bill moves through committee remains to be seen.

The Broader Signal

Minnesota is not the first state to look hard at Bitcoin ATM regulation, but a full prohibition, rather than tighter controls, represents a more aggressive posture than most jurisdictions have been willing to take. If HF 3642 passes, it will almost certainly be cited in other state legislatures weighing similar measures.

The timing is notable. Crypto has spent the better part of two years rebuilding institutional credibility following the industry’s 2022 collapse cycle. Regulatory momentum at the federal level has shifted in a more favorable direction. Against that backdrop, a state-level ban rooted in elder fraud cases is exactly the kind of story that complicates the broader narrative, not because the concern is illegitimate, but because it is entirely legitimate.

The industry’s response to this bill, and others like it, will say something about how seriously operators are taking the consumer protection dimension of their business. A $540,000 loss figure tied to 70 complaints in a single state in a single year is not catastrophic in financial terms. In political terms, it is more than enough to move legislation.

HF 3642 now sits with the committee. Further hearings are expected.

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