Dear Members of this Committee: I am a small business owner and operator, and have had cryptocurrency kiosks in my stores for over a decade. I am strongly opposed to this bill as it will not keep people of any age from getting scammed by criminals, but shifts any attempts to catch and punish them from the actual criminals to small business owners. As someone who has been in the space for many, many, years, here are a couple things I have learned: 1. The vast majority of people who used my machines were not using them because they were being scammed, but because they wanted to use money that was increasing in value and not being devalued due to inflation. In most cases, they ended up taking a Bitcoin Class from me, and their motivations were to understand the technology and how to protect themselves from financial loss with a completely new asset class. I have given in person classes on Bitcoin, and did them remotely to nursing homes residents during Covid. I have had classes where it consisted of whole offices of financial advisors seeking to understand this new technology. And because they could buy $20 worth of crypto to play around with they would use the kiosk instead of trusting an exchange to keep their money safe. 2. We saw people that were about to be scammed, and they would lie and lie to cover the truth up from anyone who asked questions. A foreign lottery claim they had to pay some fees up front, being an unwitting launderer money out of the country, bailing out a grandchild in another state, or most tragically, romance scams. After being in the crypto space for years, we had developed a pretty good sense of who they were when they went to the machine. We refused service to many of these people over the years, but the number of people being scammed using the machines were closer to 3 to 5%, not the laughable 98% being tossed around as fact. Even though there was no law requiring it, we had a moral reason to do so. 3. KYC hurdles, anti-money laundering laws, and legislation like this do absolutely nothing to dissuade criminals, who sadly will come up with new and innovative ways to prey on their victims. Laying regulatory burden on small businesses only benefits big businesses and will do nothing to protect consumers from themselves. Only education and instilling wariness in seniors will ever combat this problem. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin cannot have transactions reversed, period. Transactions are immediately written to a decentralized and immutable register, a blockchain. My first bitcoin transaction in 2011 can still be viewed on the blockchain, and it cannot be changed any more than a transaction that took place yesterday. Should a kiosk owner send bitcoin and have a waiting period to find out if it’s challenged places them in an impossible position. If they did all checks, sold the bitcoin in good faith and were forced to refund the US dollars, they would have a complete loss of the US dollars AND the real value of the Bitcoin they already agreed to be paid for. This is, in short, a de facto ban on crypto currency kiosks within the State of New Hampshire. Desperate victims of real criminals will simply drive across a state line because of that jailed grandchild, the chance of millions in a foreign lottery, or sadly, because of their “true love” who found them on the Internet. This poorly written and dangerous bill should be ITL’d. Chris Rietmann Alstead, NH
SB482
Senate · 2026 sessionRepublicanSigned into lawDigital asset kiosk consumer protections
AIEstablishes consumer protections for digital asset transaction kiosks.
establishing consumer protections for digital access transaction kiosks.
Status
Signed into law · June 24, 2026- ✓Introduced
- ✓Senate
- ✓House
- ✓Governor
- ✓Law
Division of testimony
30 submissionsThis is a deeply misguided bill. It is not narrowly tailored to the problem it is targeting, and comes at too high a cost to individual liberty and privacy. There are many legitimate uses for digital assets and transaction kiosks, and individuals should be free to use them as they see fit without government interference and surveillance. This is not to deny that there are scammers out there -- there are, and that's a problem. But this is not the right solution. Better solutions include educating the public about scams, and prosecuting the actual scammers (not services those scammers happen to use.) Nearly every technology that can be used for good purposes can also be used for bad purposes. Target the crime, not the tool. If the concern is "particularly older adults", as the bill suggests, there is no need to go even further and restrict the freedoms of other consumers, who do not need or want the government to "protect" them from themselves. By the bill's own logic, a better solution would be to limit cash withdrawals for senior citizens. While I would oppose that for other reasons, it would at least be more directly tailored to the bill's stated purpose.
Dear House Commerce Committee Member, Scammers use high-pressure tactics to push victims to act quickly and instruct them to use anonymous crypto ATMs so the transactions can't be traced. They know that once funds are transferred through a crypto ATM, recovery is nearly impossible. Right now, because it has an older population and few laws protecting its residents, New Hampshire is a prime target. In the last few years, hundreds of people have lost tens of thousands of dollars at a time. Let’s act together to prevent this trend from escalating! New Hampshire needs a common sense approach that supports the legitimate use of cryptocurrency while protecting New Hampshire's residents. While I personally would prefer an even lower limit, o A $2,000 limit will not hinder typical consumer use: Bitcoin Depot has stated its median transaction is $350. o But a $2,000 daily limit will reduce the amount victims can lose. o Limiting what scammers can steal will make New Hampshire a much less attractive target for criminals. It just makes sense that people need time to realize they have been tricked and scammed. Some victims may not understand what happened until a family conversation or when a caregiver reviews a bank statement weeks or months later. By then, the money is already gone. While I personally would prefer a longer refund period, 14 days is a reasonable compromise to give scam victims an opportunity to be made whole. Good regulation prevents fraud and strengthens trust. That’s why Republican-led Indiana has enacted a complete, statewide ban on cryptocurrency ATMs. Iowa, North Dakota, Vermont, and over a dozen other states, have enacted common sense protections similar to these transaction limits and refund requirements. I urge you to support a strong, common sense bill to protect New Hampshire residents from crypto ATM scams. Sincerely, Andrew Sideman Exeter, New Hampshire
The Iowa state attorney general’s investigation of these crypto kiosks showed that a staggering 98% of the money reported sent through Bitcoin Depot kiosks was linked to scam transactions! If you know enough about crypto to invest in it, you don’t need these kiosks. A large percentage of the fraudulent transactions were found to have victimized seniors over the age of 60. The Iowa AG is suing major crypto corporations for violations of the Consumer Fraud Act. Do not make it easier for these scammers to take advantage of Granite Staters! Vote “Ought to Pass” on SB 482.
I have tried one of these machines (in a very visible location at my local Hannaford's) and found it is incredibly easy to click through the so-called warning prompts to be able to actually transact a deposit. It reminded me of pornography sites, where all one has to do to get to the porn is to click that "yes, I am older than 18) and you get to material that everyone agrees kids under 18 should never be viewing. I am not comparing these machines to porn, but only showing how such alleged safeguards are easily bypassed by a simple click.
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