Delaware Tells Bitcoin ATMs to Kiosk Off: HB 441 Would Ban the "Quirky Gas Station Novelties" 🏛️

Delaware lawmakers advanced House Bill 441 on Tuesday, moving legislation that would impose a total ban on cryptocurrency kiosks throughout the state and frame the machines as a consumer-protection issue rather than a technology policy one. The bill's sponsors labeled the operators' business model as "predatory," with Representative Cyndie Romer, Chair of the House Technology & Telecommunications Committee, arguing that "these kiosks reduce digital currency to a predatory cash grab." Romer, the legislation's lead sponsor, highlighted fee disparities between crypto ATMs and online platforms, stating that "regular crypto traders generally do not use crypto ATMs due to their much higher fees, which can be upwards of 20% of the value of the transaction, versus the 0.4% to 1% in fees for online exchanges," and adding that "there is no reason to support a business structure that enables scammers to extort money from our most vulnerable populations." Senate sponsor Spiros Mantzavinos described the ban as a "responsible measure," saying that "as cryptocurrency becomes more prevalent in our society, we must work to properly regulate this new digital asset market."

Law enforcement data cited by lawmakers underscores the scale of crypto ATM fraud. The FBI received more than 13,400 complaints involving cryptocurrency kiosks in 2025, a 23% increase in complaints and a 58% surge in losses year-on-year, according to the agency's annual Internet Crime Report released this week. Crypto-linked fraud in the U.S. climbed to a record $11.366 billion in reported losses in 2025, a 22% jump from the prior year, with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logging 181,565 crypto-related complaints, up 21% year-over-year.

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings characterized the machines as deceptively benign, stating that "to the average Delawarean, crypto kiosks may seem like mundane or quirky gas station novelties—but to scammers they are tailor-made to defraud consumers," and describing them as "obsolete for legitimate investors and ripe for abuse against everyone else." AARP Delaware State Director Lucretia Young pointed to the disproportionate impact on older adults targeted through such schemes, noting that "many Delawareans who were convinced by scammers that they needed to move their money to protect their savings, help a loved one, or resolve a fake emergency have deposited money into these kiosks," and that losses to such scams are frequently unrecoverable. Tennessee has already become the second U.S. state to outlaw Bitcoin ATMs, criminalizing the ownership or operation of the machines that federal authorities have identified as a vector for fraud against the elderly.