Delaware's HB 441 Aims to End the 20% Bitcoin ATM Fee Fleecing 🏧

Delaware's House Economic Committee on Tuesday advanced House Bill 441, legislation that would ban owning, installing, or operating cryptocurrency kiosks throughout the state, with the bill now heading to the full chamber. The bill's sponsors framed the ban as necessary consumer protection against "predatory" practices, with the legislation also outlawing fiat-to-crypto sales that "replicate or substitute" crypto ATMs, such as through point-of-sale systems or cashiers. Any existing crypto ATMs would be required to be removed within 90 days after the bill is signed into law, with penalties of up to $10,000 for violations; kiosks found operating must refund their fees to all users or pay into a consumer protection fund if users cannot be located.

Representative Cyndie Romer, Chair of the House Technology & Telecommunications Committee and sponsor of the legislation, argued that "these kiosks reduce digital currency to a predatory cash grab," highlighting fee disparities between crypto ATMs and traditional exchanges. "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," Romer said, adding that, "There is no reason to support a business structure that enables scammers to extort money from our most vulnerable populations." Senator Spiros Mantzavinos, the Senate sponsor, described the ban as a "responsible measure," saying, "As cryptocurrency becomes more prevalent in our society, we must work to properly regulate this new digital asset market."

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings characterized the machines as deceptively benign, stating, "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's Delaware State Director Lucretia Young highlighted the disproportionate targeting of elders in fraud schemes leveraging Bitcoin ATMs, noting, "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 adding that losses to crypto scams are often unrecoverable.

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, representing a 23% increase in complaints and a 58% surge in losses year-on-year, with over half of the complaints involving people aged over 50 and losses exceeding $302 million in that demographic. Crypto-linked fraud in the U.S. surged to a new record in 2025, with Americans reporting $11.366 billion in losses, a 22% jump from the previous year, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, which said it received 181,565 crypto-related complaints last year, a 21% increase year-over-year.

Delaware is part of a growing wave of state-level action against crypto ATMs. The New Jersey Senate Commerce Committee unanimously voted on Monday to send its bill banning crypto ATMs to the full chamber, with penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offense and up to $20,000 for subsequent offenses. Indiana became the first U.S. state to ban crypto ATMs with a law signed in March, followed by Tennessee in April and Minnesota in May, while states including Arizona and California have capped the value of transactions allowed by crypto ATMs. Bitcoin Depot, once the largest operator of crypto ATMs in the world with over 9,000 kiosks, cited regulatory pressure as a major reason it filed for bankruptcy last month, though crypto ATM operators have long maintained they are not at fault for scams conducted through their machines.