Out of the Hash: Haverhill Joins the Crypto ATM Ban Brigade

Well, folks, it looks like another American municipality has decided that crypto ATMs are the villain in their local drama. The city council of Haverhill, Massachusetts is poised to consider banning cryptocurrency ATMs after Mayor Melinda E. Barrett dropped an ordinance on March 17 that would make these machines persona non grata. The proposal sailed through the March 17 meeting with a unanimous 11 votes, suggesting nobody on the council has ever used a crypto ATM to, say, quickly grab some sats without opening a Coinbase account.

The ordinance, in a classic display of local governance stepping up where state and federal regulators have apparently fallen asleep at the wheel, cited "financial fraud, money laundering and lack of recourse" as the reasons why Haverhill residents apparently can't be trusted near a kiosk that dispenses magic internet money. One can only assume the city council has also banned toaster ovens and 3 AM fast food runs, given the similar risk profiles.

For those crypto ATM operators who thought they might just wait this one out, here's some bad news wrapped in a daily fine: if passed, all crypto kiosks and ATMs would need to vanish within 60 days or face a $300 daily fine. That's $300 per day, per machine, for those keeping score at home. Haverhill now joins what is becoming quite the exclusive club of US jurisdictions that have decided the solution to financial fraud is to throw the whole technology in the dumpster.

Over in Minnesota, a lawmaker introduced a bill in February that could ban crypto kiosks entirely, building on a 2024 law that already had the industry twitching nervously with its restrictions on ATM operators. Apparently, the Land of 10,000 Lakes is also the land of 10,000 crypto ATM regulations.

According to data from CoinATMRadar and crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot, there could be eight or more machines lurking in the Haverhill area. For scale, that's roughly eight too many according to Mayor Barrett's office, which declined to comment to Cointelegraph at publication. The silent treatment is truly the official response of choice for government officials these days.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin Depot, one of the largest crypto ATM operators in the US, has seen its stock (BTM) plunge more than 90% in the past six months. As of Tuesday, the ticker was limping along at $2.06 on the Nasdaq. For those keeping track at home, that's what happens when regulators keep kicking the vending machines of the financial revolution. At this rate, the stock will be worth less than the copper in the ATMs themselves.

But wait, there's more! Beyond the Haverhill proposal, Bitcoin Depot has been having what one might call a rough patch. Connecticut banking regulators issued a temporary cease-and-desist order in March, effectively suspending its money transmission license. Authorities in Iowa and Massachusetts have also sued the company for allegedly facilitating crypto scams. And just last week, CEO Scott Buchanan decided he'd had enough after less than three months on the job, stepping down to be replaced by Board member and former MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes. Nothing says "confidence in the future" quite like a three-month CEO tenure and a wholesale leadership change. Cointelegraph reached out to Bitcoin Depot for comment on the Haver