Since August 1, 2026, a legislative ban on the operation of terminals for the purchase of digital assets has entered into force in the state of Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz signed a corresponding regulatory act back in May, ordering operators to deactivate all devices by early August. Companies have a deadline of December thirty-first for the complete physical dismantling of cryptomats from public places. The state Department of Commerce initiated these restrictions against the background of a sharp increase in the number of complaints from citizens affected by financial fraud.

According to official data from the department, in the period from 2023 to 2025, residents of the region lost about $1.0 million as a result of fraudulent schemes using cryptocurrency ATMs. In 2025 alone, 70 incidents were recorded with a total damage of more than $0.54 million, while the average loss per transaction was almost $6.8 thousand. Regulators emphasized that the victims of intruders were most often elderly people who were persuaded by criminals to transfer funds under the pretext of helping "relatives in need," romantic relationships or the demands of imaginary government officials.

The new law obliges companies that worked exclusively through cryptocurrencies to return their dollar balances to customers at the market rate at the time of the transaction or transfer assets to wallets specified by users. The scale of the problem is confirmed by FBI statistics: according to a report by the Internet Crimes Complaint Center, in 2025, the total damage to Minnesota residents from crypto crimes exceeded $151.6 million. The ban in Minnesota was a continuation of a nationwide trend, as previously similar laws were passed by the states of Delaware and New Jersey, and the largest Bitcoin Depot operator filed for bankruptcy.