Albuquerque’s city council has banned cryptocurrency ATMs and cashier-facilitated virtual currency transactions within city limits, requiring operators and the businesses hosting the machines to remove them within 45 days.

The ordinance passed on Wednesday. The city will notify known operators and retailers that host the kiosks, beginning the removal period.

District 1 Councilor Stephanie Telles co-sponsored the measure with District 7 Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn. Telles said that 90% of crypto ATM transactions in Albuquerque are linked to fraud.

“No one who legitimately exchanges or transmits virtual currency uses these kiosks, because the high fees make them a ripoff,” Telles said in a press release. She said the machines are primarily used by “Scammers, organized crime, and human traffickers” because their transactions are instant, anonymous, and irreversible.

“We cannot wait for federal regulators to solve this crisis while our residents are actively being targeted and harmed in our own neighborhoods,” Fiebelkorn said.

The council said residents can still own, mine, and transfer cryptocurrency through online exchanges and personal wallets. The measure therefore targets physical kiosks and cashier-facilitated transactions in Albuquerque, while leaving those other forms of cryptocurrency access available.

Crypto ATM bans spread

Albuquerque’s action follows a series of statewide prohibitions. Indiana became the first state to ban the machines in March, followed by Tennessee in July. Minnesota’s ban, proposed in the spring, took effect in August. Delaware has advanced a bill to prohibit the kiosks, New Jersey is considering a ban, and Texas lawmakers are weighing similar legislation after crypto kiosk scams cost residents $57 million.

Bitcoin Depot, once the largest operator in North America, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May and took roughly 9,700 kiosks offline. Chief Executive Alex Holmes cited transaction limits and, “in some jurisdictions, outright restrictions or bans.”

Telles’s 90% estimate is high but not unique. Washington, D.C.’s attorney general sued Athena Bitcoin last year after finding that 93% of deposits made into the company’s seven kiosks in the city over five months resulted from fraud. The median victim was 71 years old. Athena said it strongly disagreed with the findings.

The FBI recorded nearly 11,000 crypto kiosk fraud complaints in 2024, involving more than $246 million.

Source: Decrypt