Massachusetts towns ban crypto kiosks as scams surge, more communities poised to follow

A growing number of Massachusetts municipalities are trying to get cryptocurrency kiosks out of gas stations and convenience stores after complaints of scams kept mounting.

Now that 20 communities have enacted bans and more are considering them, pressure is building on Beacon Hill to decide whether the state should impose its own prohibition.

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The Boston Globe reported that hundreds of these machines have appeared statewide, letting customers convert cash to bitcoin within minutes.

One case highlighted by critics involved a Haverhill resident who was undergoing cancer treatment in July 2024. She was tricked into depositing $5,500 into a kiosk, including money from her prayer group and nearly all of her savings.

Massachusetts banking authorities provide far less oversight of these machines than they do for traditional bank ATMs, even though the kiosks allow users to send large amounts of cash to anonymous online accounts. When fraud occurs, victims may have little chance of recovering the money.

Massachusetts is also following a broader national pattern. AARP says at least 35 states have passed laws regulating crypto kiosks, and five have banned them completely. Every New England state other than Massachusetts has some kind of regulation, and Vermont has adopted a full ban.