By Alice T. Crowe

Imagine trying to take out $40 from an ATM, but the machine won’t give you cash. Instead, it’s a cryptocurrency ATM that only lets you buy bitcoin, and it charges a high fee. These machines allow you to buy or sell cryptocurrency using cash or a debit card. You have no idea that they are not connected to banks or the regular banking system. Many of these crypto ATMs are concentrated in Black neighborhoods.  It’s not a coincidence. Crypto companies target Black consumers.

Big crypto firms such as Circle, Coinbase, Ripple and Crypto.com are trying to become banks by applying for special permission, a national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency…