Overview
- Minnesota's statewide ban on cryptocurrency kiosks went into effect Saturday and requires operators to take machines offline by Aug. 1, 2026 and remove them from stores by Dec. 31, 2026.
- Federal data presented to state lawmakers show 13,460 kiosk-related complaints in 2025 with adjusted losses of about $389 million and Texans reporting roughly $56.8 million of those losses.
- Scammers use urgent impersonations and real-time coaching to force victims to feed cash into kiosks and send crypto to unhosted wallets and mixers, which law enforcement says makes recovery nearly impossible.
- The regulatory shift has driven major industry change: Bitcoin Depot entered Chapter 11 in May 2026 and began winding down its kiosk network after tighter limits, litigation and state bans cut the market.
- Other states are following Minnesota's lead and lawmakers in Texas and Massachusetts are weighing bans, a move that could reduce kiosk fraud but also remove a cash-to-crypto on-ramp used by unbanked and cash-reliant people.