Newton city councilors are moving toward an outright ban on cryptocurrency ATMs after hearing that residents have lost roughly $411,000 to scams tied to the machines since 2023 — money that police say has not been recovered. The Programs and Services Committee took up the idea at a meeting Wednesday, with most members signaling support for a complete prohibition rather than partial limits.
The committee discussed implementing a full ban on cryptocurrency ATMs in Newton and plans to work with the city's Law Department to draft an ordinance modeled directly on one already in place in Waltham, according to The Heights. The panel plans to bring a draft ordinance back to its next meeting, the outlet reported. Newton's Law Department has indicated it is prepared to adapt Waltham's ordinance into the city's own code, per the same report.
Ward 2's Tarik Lucas Lays Out the Local Toll
Ward 2 Councilor-at-Large Tarik Lucas told the committee that Newton has seen approximately 26 cryptocurrency ATM scams since 2023, totaling $411,000 in losses, the student newspaper reported. None of that money has been recovered by victims, according to the same account. Lucas noted that some victims never report the crimes to police at all, whether out of embarrassment or for reasons that remain unclear, the report said.
Newton Police Department Sergeant Brian Tramontozzi, who the report notes owns and uses cryptocurrency himself, told the committee his detective bureau has not succeeded in recovering any cryptocurrency for victims. Massachusetts courts have not established a legal precedent for law enforcement to reclaim cryptocurrency seized on behalf of victims, according to the same reporting — a gap that helps explain why local officials are leaning toward prevention over after-the-fact recovery. Crypto ATM transactions transfer funds instantly, the committee was told, making recovery nearly impossible once money is sent.
A Patchwork of State and Local Responses
The committee's push follows action already taken in Waltham, which enacted its own cryptocurrency ATM ban in 2025. The Waltham ordinance prohibits any person, business, or entity from installing, operating, maintaining, or allowing a cryptocurrency ATM in the city, and it defines the machines broadly as any publicly accessible kiosk that lets users buy, sell, exchange, or transfer cryptocurrency using cash or cards. Violators face a $300-per-day fine for each device, with every additional day treated as a separate offense, and the ordinance can be enforced by Waltham's police department, its Building Department, or another authorized city agent.
Accounts of when exactly Waltham's ban took hold differ. City records list Order No. 36680 as adopted September 8, 2025, while the Waltham Times reported the measure was unanimously approved September 9 and took effect September 15. Before the ban, Waltham had 14 cryptocurrency ATMs operating in the city, the Waltham Times reported, and more than 20 people there reported a combined $175,000 in cryptocurrency scam losses during 2025. Waltham's move has since prompted Chelmsford to consider a similar bylaw, according to the same report.
Ward 2's David Micley Urges a Closer Look First
Not every committee member is ready to jump straight to a total ban. Ward 2 Councilor David Micley proposed exploring effective limitations adopted in other cities before committing to a full prohibition, The Heights reported, even as most of his colleagues favored going further.
The debate in Newton's committee room — chaired by Ward 4 Councilor-at-Large Joshua Krintzman — mirrors a broader reckoning playing out statewide and nationally. Cryptocurrency ATMs typically charge markups of 10% to 20% on transactions, far steeper than the 1% to 4% fees charged by exchanges like Binance, Kraken, or Coinbase, according to figures presented to the committee.
Massachusetts Scam Losses Mount as Other States Act
Statewide, FBI data cited by WBUR recorded 296 crypto-kiosk scam complaints in Massachusetts in 2025, with reported losses of $6,834,561. WBUR also reports that Massachusetts is the only New England state where the kiosks remain unregulated. The Massachusetts Attorney General's office has separately alleged that more than 80% of customers who spent at least $10,000 at Bitcoin Depot kiosks between August 2023 and January 2025 used them in connection with scam transactions, according to WCVB.
That scrutiny has already produced legal action: the state Attorney General's office has alleged that Bitcoin Depot used misleading sales tactics and knowingly facilitated scams that cost Massachusetts consumers more than $10 million, per a statement from the office published on Mass.gov. WCVB also reports that at least three Massachusetts cities — Waltham, Gloucester, and Haverhill — have banned the machines on their own, and that a state bill to regulate the kiosks has sat on Beacon Hill for more than a year and would now need to be amended to reflect a ban rather than mere regulation.
Nationally, the trend lines point the same direction. The ABA Banking Journal reports that twenty states have adopted new laws restricting cryptocurrency kiosk activity, that Indiana became the first state to enact a total ban on the machines, and that South Dakota now mandates full refunds for fraud victims while capping daily transactions at $1,000. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 10,956 complaints involving crypto kiosks nationwide in 2024, with reported victim losses of roughly $246.7 million, according to the same outlet. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission has reported that consumers over 60 were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report losing money to Bitcoin ATM scams, with a median reported loss of $10,000 in the first half of 2025.
For now, Newton's path forward hinges on the draft ordinance the Law Department is expected to bring back to the Programs and Services Committee at its next meeting. Whether that draft will mirror Waltham's flat ban or incorporate Micley's call for a closer look at alternatives first remains an open question the committee has yet to resolve.
