Bitcoin ATM’s days in America may be numbered
A sign advertises a Bitcoin ATM at a gas station on July 16, 2025 near Pasadena, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
According to the FBI, $240 million was lost to cryptocurrency ATM scams in the first six months of 2025 — about double the pace of similar scams in 2024. The growing pace of crypto ATM fraud has some policymakers pursuing bans and others asking why the nation is blanketed in these machines in the first place.
Spokane Police Detective Tim Schwering started noticing the rise in crypto crime in 2023. “Cases started flowing my way where people were getting ripped off by cryptocurrency machines,” Schwering said. The money would find its way to China, Russia, Nigeria, and other far-off outposts. “You couldn’t get to anyone…
