20 Mass. communities have banned crypto kiosks amid rise in scams

Local News

A statewide ban could be next as lawmakers consider cracking down on machines that let users convert cash into cryptocurrency.

Twenty Massachusetts communities have banned cryptocurrency kiosks amid concerns that the machines are increasingly being used by scammers, according to a report by The Boston Globe.

Hundreds of the kiosks, sometimes called crypto ATMs, have appeared in convenience stores and gas stations across Massachusetts in recent years. The machines let users deposit cash and quickly convert it into cryptocurrency, which can then be sent to digital wallets.

Investigators say it’s becoming common for scammers to direct victims to the machines, making the money harder to recover. 

Communities that have banned the machines are: Gloucester, Burlington, Dartmouth, Haverhill, Billerica, Ipswich, Lakeville, Somerset, Longmeadow, Ludlow, South Hadley, Norwell, Peabody, Waltham, Saugus, Sharon, Wayland, Revere, Westfield, and Westford, according to the Globe. Beverly and Easthampton are also reportedly considering bans.

But the kiosks could eventually be prohibited statewide.

All 14 Massachusetts county sheriffs signed a letter in July urging lawmakers to ban cryptocurrency kiosks across the state.

“Cryptocurrency kiosks located in communities throughout the Commonwealth have become favorite tools for scammers who frequently direct targets to the machines to make payments for fake fines and fees,” sheriffs wrote, adding that they are “regularly warning residents of continuing arrest and warrant scams, and we have seen the malicious use of these machines continue to rise.”

Local officials say municipal bans can only go so far because scammers can send victims to kiosks in neighboring communities.

“Why wait for [another] victim to come along before we do the right thing,” Beverly City Councilor Keith Sonia, who is pushing for a ban in the city, told the Globe.

The state Senate approved a ban as part of a broader economic development bill, but the House version did not include the measure. A six-member conference committee negotiating differences between the bills will determine whether the provision makes it into the final legislation.

Massachusetts residents reported more than $6.8 million in losses tied to cryptocurrency kiosk scams in 2025—nearly $19,000 per day—according to FBI data cited by AARP. 

The Globe previously traced roughly $500,000 in scam losses to seven crypto kiosks in Haverhill alone. In one case, a woman undergoing cancer treatment lost $5,500 in 2024 after depositing money into a local kiosk, including funds given to her by members of her prayer group.

In their letter, sheriffs also pointed to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell against Bitcoin Depot, a major kiosk operator.

Campbell’s office alleges that more than 80 percent of customers who spent at least $10,000 at the company’s Massachusetts kiosks between August 2023 and January 2025 used them in connection with scams. Those customers accounted for $10.6 million in transactions, according to the complaint.

Kiosk operators argue that stronger consumer protections, rather than an outright ban, could address fraud associated with the machines.

“Banning crypto kiosks won’t stop fraud. Instead, it pushes scammers toward channels with fewer safeguards,” a spokesperson for CoinFlip, a major crypto kiosk operator, told the Globe.

At least 35 states have enacted laws regulating crypto kiosks, and five have banned them outright, according to AARP. Massachusetts is the only New England state that has not regulated the machines.