Bipartite groups of state legislators advance the legislation this year intended to impose new regulations on automated dispute machines that deal with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in order to tighten the crooks that cost billions of dollars to the Americans.
Dozens of bills presented in at least 15 states would require that cryptographic kiosk operators register with state authorities, advise consumers of volatility and the risk inherent in alternative investment programs and require the availability of live customer service agents.
In most cases, invoices would limit the amount of money that a customer could spend in a cryptographic kiosk during a given day and cap the costs that these machines could charge for transactions. Most invoices would limit transactions to $ 1,000 per day per customer and cap the costs of $ 5 or between 3% and 15% of the cost of a transaction.
The bills intervene as those responsible for the application of state and federal laws warn against a striking increase in the number of fraud regimes involving cryptocurrency. In a September report, the FBI said that crypto fraud cost the Americans for $ 5.6 billion in 2023, an increase of 45% compared to the previous year.
“People lose their savings,” said Maryland senator Pamela Beidle (D) Pluribus News. “Abuses do not occur when people go to the machines to buy a cryptocurrency. The problem arises when people are invited to send money for fraudulent stories, and their money is sent to a third party. »»
Beidle legislation will be modified to cap $ 2,000 transactions per day. It would limit the costs to 5 or 15% of the cost of a transaction, and it would force kiosk operators to collect personal information on users. The kiosks themselves would be required to show warnings on the risks of investing in alternative currencies.
Beidle said one of its voters had been taken from $ 3,500 after having received a call to the scam saying that he had missed the great judgment. The appellant had usurped the telephone number of the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Bureau to appear more official.
A similar invoice in the Northern Dakota which would limit payments to $ 2,000 for the first five transactions obtained approval from the State House. The bills in Arizona and Hawaii have won the approval of the Committee. Other bills have been presented in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.
The strictest version, introduced in New Jersey, would completely prohibit cryptographic kiosks. The bill would fix penalties of up to $ 10,000 for the first operating offense of such a kiosk.
Industry groups say they want to work with political decision -makers to reach a regulatory framework which both maintains access to the emerging phenomenon of cryptocurrency while eliminating or limiting fraud that undermines the position – and the growth of cryptography.
“It is essential that political decision -makers work with the industry at the start of the policies’ development process in order to ensure that technical requirements are functional for cryptographic kiosk operators,” said Peter Herzog, who directs the affairs of local states and governments for Crypto Council for Innovation, a commercial group of the industry.
Herzog said the industry was most wary of New Jersey’s legislation to impose a pure and simple ban on kiosks.
“We all have an interest in mitigating illegal activity in financial space, but the ban on kiosks will probably have unforeseen consequences, such as disturbing financial markets and preventing daily users from accessing their funds,” he said.
In some cases, local officials of the application of laws testified in support of bills. In a letter to the Innovation and Technology Committee of the House of Rhode Island, the head of the west police, Paul Gingerella, said that his officers were increasingly investigating the scams linked to the crypto.
“Criminals exploit unregulated virtual currency kiosks and monitored to easily facilitate illicit transactions, wash money and defraud residents of Rhode Island,” wrote Gingerella. He said efforts to work with kiosk operators frequently encountered indifference and no cooperation.
Many bills are supported by AARP, which warns against cryptographic scams that target the elderly. Of the 5,500 complaints on cryptographic kiosks deposited with the FBI in 2023, almost half came from people over the age of 60, the group said.
The Rhode Island bill would oblige operators to submit quarterly reports to the State. It would require risk and volatility disclosure on cryptographic markets.
“Automatic distributors of Crypto tickets are unfortunately an increasingly common way for criminals to get away with their poorly acquired and without increased regulations, this trend will only accelerate,” said Rhode Island, Victoria Gu (D) in a press release.
The bills in Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts would force kiosk operators to use the blockchain analysis to prevent fraud. A version of Colorado would oblige operators to offer victims a full refund if the transactions are deemed fraudulent.
The global cryptocurrency market, which includes thousands of separate currencies called parts, is worth around 3.3 billions of dollars, according to Forbes. About one in six American people say they have invested, exchanged or used a cryptocurrency, according to a PEW Research Center survey from October. This number is much higher in men (25%), and in particular younger men under the age of 30 (42%).
The increase in the popularity of cryptocurrency, especially since the value of the most popular token, Bitcoin, jumped at almost $ 100,000, attracted a huge peak in scams. The annual estimates of the scam activity increased on average 24% per year, according to Chainalysis, a cryptographic market study company.
Only a few states have adopted laws to regulate cryptographic kiosks, according to the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the Penn’s Wharton School of Business. The governor of Vermont Phil Scott (R) signed legislation in 2022 demanding that kiosk operators be registered and approved.
Banking regulators in Pennsylvania, Idaho, Connecticut and South Carolina have concluded that current laws apply to automatic ticket distributors do not cover cryptographic kiosks.
This story was published for the first time in Pluribus News. Read the original here.
