Agawam City Council halts data centers, outlaws crypto ATMs

AGAWAM — Scammers lost a tool used to target Agawam residents when the City Council voted on Sept. 8 to ban cryptocurrency ATMs in the city. It also temporarily blocked data centers and strengthened the consequences for violating the city’s e-bike ordinance.

The council had already conducted a public hearing on the moratorium at its Aug. 3 meeting. City Council President Anthony Russo noted that the city had the authority to choose whether to approve or reject plans for data centers following an executive order signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Sept. 8.

The president explained that a preliminary ordinance will be drafted this fall and a public hearing will be held to seek input on the ordinance. The ordinance may be edited to include suggestions and feedback.

City Councilor Robert Rossi sought an amendment to the moratorium that would outright ban data centers larger 12 megawatts, reasoning that Agawam did not have the infrastructure to support a data center of that size. Russo objected on a technical issue, saying a moratorium and a ban cannot be combined in a single ordinance. No councilors seconded Rossi’s motion and the ban attempt died.

There are eight cryptocurrency ATMs in Agawam. City Councilor Tom Hendrickson explained what they were for the benefit of residents who were not familiar with the machines. “These are used by scammers who will call people up and trick them … into going to these ATM machines — crypto ATM machines — depositing money and sending it to them in a way that can’t really be traced by law enforcement,” he said. He added that the ATMs had no other purpose.