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BTC Massachusetts Senate votes to ban cryptocurrency ATMs
The Massachusetts Senate voted on Thursday to ban cryptocurrency ATMs. The ban is attached to a comprehensive economic development bill. The move comes as FBI data showed that statewide losses in such self-service terminal fraud totaled approximately $7 million last year. Consumer advocates and elderly residents say these unregulated machines have become a cash conduit for scammers.
Cryptocurrency ATM machine fraud: Victims are directed to terminals
These machines look no different from ordinary cash machines. Hundreds of machines are located in convenience stores, pharmacies and liquor stores across the state. Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott said scams often start with a phone call or text message, and victims are then pressured to convert savings into Bitcoin. Cash is put into the machine, the QR code provided by the fraudster is scanned, and the deposit is instantly converted into Bitcoin and transferred to an anonymous wallet. Once cash enters it, it can never be recovered.
The FBI said Massachusetts received 296 complaints about self-service terminal fraud in 2025, resulting in losses of US$6,834,561. That means an average of about $19,000 per day in losses reported. In the past year, the agency has stolen a total of $389 million through such scams across the United States.
The Massachusetts chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons led the crackdown. "Banning cryptocurrency ATMs is the most effective way to stop continued damage," state director Jen Benson said in a statement Thursday.
Massachusetts lacks regulation of cryptocurrency ATMs
Massachusetts currently has no written rules for cryptocurrency self-service terminals. That has prompted sheriffs and advocacy groups to push lawmakers to shut down the machines at least temporarily. Massachusetts is the only state in New England that has left these machines in a regulatory vacuum. Vermont, Minnesota, Indiana and Tennessee have directly banned these machines, and 28 other states restrict their use in some way.
McDermott said that the lack of local regulatory guardrails attracted operators to settle in. He added that until regulatory rules are actually established, removing the machines is the only means available.
However, Thursday's vote did not change the status quo. The ban was included as an amendment to the Senate's Comprehensive Economic Development Act, which passed the Senate late Thursday. The House has reviewed similar language twice before-once in its version of the bill and once in an earlier budget proposal-but failed to pass it twice. The ultimate fate of the ban depends on how much the two houses collaborate in advancing their respective bills.
