California tightens control on Bitcoin ATMs with new laws aimed at reducing fraud and securing transactions.
New Laws Aim to Reduce Bitcoin ATM Fraud
Chico, California, hopes to better control Bitcoin teller machines (ATMs) with the help of both state-level legislation and local ordinances.
Andy Pickett, the county of Butte's top administrative officer, discussed the continuing efforts to regulate Bitcoin ATMs during a local government committee meeting on August 7, Cointelegraph reports.
State Laws Tackle Bitcoin ATM Fraud
Recently, laws have been passed at the state level to restrict instances of Bitcoin ATM fraud, which Pickett covered.
In October 2023, lawmakers in California looked into cryptocurrency ATMs and discovered that some of them charged a premium of 33 percent and had limits of fifty thousand dollars. This led to the passage of a measure capping daily deposits at $1,000. All cryptocurrency ATM transfers in California must also include a receipt and the name of the operator.
In addition, Pickett stated:
“The bigger impact is a bill that will take effect in July 2025, which will regulate the use of Bitcoin ATMs treating them more like a bank.”
Local Ordinances to Regulate Bitcoin ATMs
Pickett went on to stress the importance of local regulation of Bitcoin ATMs. As he put it:
“Each jurisdiction would need to pass their own ordinance to regulate the Bitcoin machines, and any ordinance would likely be challenged in court.”
Chico boasts 347 operational crypto ATMs as of right now, surpassing the total number of ATMs in other big economies, including New Zealand, Hong Kong, Poland, and Spain, according to Coin ATM Radar.
Of all Bitcoin ATMs, 31,649 are located in the US, making up 82.6% of the network. Third place goes to Australia with 3% (1,143 ATMs), followed by Canada with 7.7% (2,961 ATMs).
Across several jurisdictions, 2,872 cryptocurrency ATMs may be found in California.
The first drop in Bitcoin ATM installations this year occurred in July when 660 crypto ATMs were removed from the worldwide network.