For four years, the Biden Administration showed little to no love for cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, the industry’s relationship with the federal government reached new lows with Biden’s veto of crucial legislation to empower America’s well-respected financial institutions to take custody of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Biden’s statement on his decision repeated the tired old narrative that crypto isn’t safe for consumers or investors. The ordeal was a gut punch to good-faith efforts to expand crypto’s role in the American economy and another example of resistance from Democrats and special interests like the AARP to policies that legitimize the digital asset economy.
Despite political efforts to sideline digital assets, Americans are still interested. In fact, 42% say they are likely to invest in crypto in the next year. However, while industry-friendly President Donald Trump is now in the White House, Biden’s policies gave state legislators the green light to meddle in blockchain tokens.
In continuing the war on crypto, hostile policymakers in several states unfairly targeted cryptocurrency kiosks. For consumers who prefer or need to use cash to invest in crypto, kiosks are the only method available to them to participate in this market. It’s sad that the push by lawmakers for “consumer protections” at kiosks is a smokescreen to advance an anti-crypto agenda that the AARP is behind.
A closer look at legislation from states proves that achieving “consumer protections” means severely restricting investment amounts in the digital asset world via kiosks. For example, a law in California imposes a $1,000 daily transaction limit on customers, while a law in Vermont goes one step further: it imposes a one-year statewide moratorium on all new kiosks. Surprisingly, even some Republican-led states have bought into this misguided approach. For instance, Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird has filed a lawsuit against crypto kiosk companies alleging they are somehow involved in scams.
Criminals use various methods, including cell phones, mail service, and social media, to defraud victims. In fact, scam transactions at traditional financial institutions vastly outpace the amount lost to transactions at crypto kiosks. Yet nobody is calling for laws or lawsuits targeting banks or these other services for being exploited by fraudsters. It’s disappointing to see public officials who claim to support free markets and innovation adopt an anti-crypto playbook similar to those in leftist states such as Vermont and California.
Even in the halls of Congress, crypto kiosks have drawn the ire of lawmakers. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois recently introduced the Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act. This legislation’s title is misleading -- the only reason it would prevent fraud is because it thwarts consumer freedom to use crypto kiosks. Like Vermont and California, the transaction rules in Durbin’s bill empowers Big Government to dictate to consumers how much they are allowed to invest.
Compare these investment ceiling policies to the traditional stock market. Our government doesn’t impose investment limits for equities even though the risk of financial loss still exists. But, for some reason, some lawmakers decided crypto kiosks need to be treated differently and that their users deserve government-imposed transaction limits.
These state and federal kiosk policies reflect the misconception that crypto isn’t safe for consumers. Fortunately, President Trump understands crypto’s popularity in America, and early actions by his administration prove he truly believes crypto must hold a place in our economic future.
For example, President Trump created the position of Crypto Czar to advise on cryptocurrency policy and named David Sacks to the post. In another first, upon taking office this past January, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the federal government to prioritize making the United States a world leader in digital financial assets. Likewise, the President’s establishment of the first Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is another good first step.
President Trump is driving U.S. leadership in the digital asset space, and crypto kiosks are a critical part of the ecosystem. It would be wise to avoid policy mistakes in Vermont, California, Iowa, and Congress. Let’s implement a federal framework that protects consumer freedom and supports President Trump’s global leadership goals for our country.
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