As the U.S. Senate Banking Committee prepares to vote on comprehensive digital asset legislation by the end of the month, Senator Cynthia Lummis has indicated that the Senate’s version of the bill could include provisions to combat fraud at cryptocurrency ATMs.
In a statement on Monday, Lummis, a key proponent of the legislation, said she and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are aiming to address the issue within the market structure framework. She cited a report from the Cheyenne police department that identified 50 fraud cases involving crypto ATMs, resulting in over $645,000 in losses and predominantly affecting senior citizens.
Currently, no federal law specifically targets fraud conducted via crypto ATMs and kiosks. The FBI reported it had received nearly 11,000 complaints of such fraud in 2024, with losses exceeding $246 million.
Lummis’s remarks suggest that the Senate’s version of the market structure bill is still being refined. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version, the CLARITY Act, in July, but the text did not explicitly mention crypto ATMs. Similarly, an initial draft of the Senate bill released in September omitted any reference to the machines.
“Consumer protections are critical to building a strong digital economy,” Lummis stated. “I am hopeful bipartisan market structure legislation can build off of the safeguards Senator Gillibrand and I crafted in our 2023 bill to punish bad actors without limiting innovation. Preventing elder abuse and applying common sense rules to digital asset kiosks is an important area of focus.”
This is not the first attempt to address the issue at a federal level. In February, Senator Dick Durbin introduced the Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act, designed to require operators to warn consumers about potential scams. The bill was referred to the Senate Banking Committee but did not advance for a floor vote.
In the absence of federal regulation, numerous state and local governments have implemented their own rules. Cities like Stillwater, Minnesota, and Spokane, Washington, have banned crypto kiosks in response to rising scam activities. Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, preemptively imposed a $1,000 daily transaction limit. As of August, 13 U.S. states have passed laws restricting crypto ATM operations through measures such as transaction limits, mandatory fraud warnings, and registration with state authorities.
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