Overview
- A federal court denied an injunction on Thursday, allowing Tennessee’s Public Chapter 766 to take effect and making the operation or hosting of crypto ATMs a Class A misdemeanor.
- State officials cited roughly $4 million in scam losses, mostly affecting older adults, and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said the machines are “tools for scammers” that benefit fraudsters.
- Data from CoinATM Radar shows a record wave of removals, with about 10,230 kiosks uninstalled globally in June and 9,798 removed from U.S. locations, a trend linked to recent state actions.
- Major operators such as CoinFlip sued to block the ban and lost the injunction, and the industry is responding with bankruptcies and business shifts toward crypto cards and custodial rails.
- Other states have restricted or banned crypto ATMs and more legislatures are considering similar measures, so the next developments to watch are ongoing litigation outcomes and any federal response that could override state rules.