New legislation that protects North Dakotans from fraudulent activity involving cryptocurrency kiosks is having its hearing before the House Industry, Business, and Labor Committee.
Cryptocurrency kiosks look like bank ATMs and allow people to conduct legitimate cryptocurrency transactions. But, they can also be used to carry out fraudulent activity. Josh Askvig, state director of AARP ND says scams involving crypto ATMs are on the rise, effecting mostly older North Dakotans.
"We know in North Dakota alone this year, working with and talking to the Attorney General's Office, they've already seen three complaints this year totaling over 30 thousand dollars. Thats just in 2025, since January first, never mind what they've seen in previous years. "
Askvig says that these sorts of scams are underreported, so that number is likely much higher.
Cryptocurrency kiosks aren’t federally regulated, and victims of scams often assume they have the same protections as regular ATMs. The bill would put in place a number of safeguards to prevent criminals from using crypto ATMs to steal, including licensing cryptocurrency ATM operators in the state, imposing daily transaction limits, and posting fraud warning notices near the kiosks.
Representative Steve Swiontek of Fargo sponsored the bill. He says it will also require the crypto ATMs to print out receipts for every transaction.
"Right now, there aren't paper receipts made available, so with the paper receipts, law enforcement can take all that transactional information and help them to investigate this immediately. "
House bill 1447 received support from a number of agencies.