Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed a bill that would officially ban the use and installation of cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks in the southeastern US state, giving businesses just weeks to come into compliance.
Lee sign Tennessee House Bill 2505 passed on April 13, making setting up a cryptocurrency kiosk a Class A misdemeanor effective July 1. Reclassifying the machines as illegal under state law would potentially expose the operators and businesses hosting the machines to up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Source: Tennessee General Assembly
According to data from CoinATMRadar, there are were more than 570 crypto kiosks and ATMs on Monday, with operators including Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip. Cointelegraph reached out to a Bitcoin Depot spokesperson for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Nasdaq-traded shares of the kiosk operator closed down about 6.9% on Monday, according to at Yahoo Finance.
Tennessee’s law is just one of several measures taken at the US state level targeting crypto kiosks in response to its residents being victims of scams and other illegal activities. A town in Massachusetts banned the machines earlier this month, and the Minnesota State Senate recently introduced a bill that could ban crypto kiosks statewide.
Related: Massachusetts Town to Consider Banning Crypto ATMs, Citing Financial Risks
“Virtual currency kiosks have become a gateway for fraudsters to prey on Tennesseans, especially our seniors, with little hope of getting their money back once it’s gone,” said Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who sponsored the bill.
The FBI reported that Americans lost $11 billion to crypto scams in 2025
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that scams related to cryptocurrency and A.I. were “among the costliest” for Americans in 2025. Its annual Internet Crime Complaints Report released in April cited more than 13,000 complaints related to crypto ATMs and kiosks last year, resulting in losses of more than $389 million.
Some types of ATM scams include tricking people into sending Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies to an address posing as a family member in need of help, or an authority figure claiming that the individual needs to send money to avoid arrest or repay a debt.
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