Canada Moves to Outlaw Crypto ATMs Amid Rising Fraud

With fraud on the rise, the Canadian government is proposing a ban on crypto ATMs.

That’s according to the country’s Spring Economic Update for 2026, which was released Tuesday (April 28) and covers, among other things, efforts to combat financial crime.

This includes a ban on crypto ATMs, which the government says would “protect Canadians by shutting down a primary method for scammers to defraud victims and for criminals to place their cash proceeds of crime.”

Consumer fraud, the update says, is growing in “sophistication,” with fraudsters employing technological advances to target their victims. Canadians lost more than $704 million to fraud last year, the report said, bringing total reported losses since 2022 to upwards of $2.4 billion.

“With only an estimated 5-to-10 per cent of consumer-targeted fraud incidents being reported, the true impact is likely far higher,” the updated added.

The proposed crypto ATM ban would make Canada the latest in a series of jurisdictions looking to restrict or even outlaw the machines, which allow users to convert cash into digital currencies such as bitcoin before sending them to digital wallets.

Last month, Connecticut’s banking regulator suspended the money transmission license held by Bitcoin Depot, the world’s largest crypto ATM operator, for allegedly violating compliance requirements, overcharging customers and failing to refund fraud victims.

According to a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the company is also being sued in Massachusetts.

This lawsuit came after investigators found that more than half of the money flowing through Bitcoin Depot kiosks in the state between August 2023 and January 2025 was scam related. The company has said it disagrees with claims that it facilitates scams and said it works with law enforcement to prevent financial crime.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has argued that as crypto ATMs have appeared in more locations, they have become a “payment portal for scammers.”

The commission said in 2024 that scammers were increasingly relying on bitcoin ATMs to help them in government impersonation, business impersonation and tech support scams.

However, crypto industry proponents claim that bans on the ATMs won’t eliminate fraud, and could harm consumers.

“Eliminating them may reduce certain fraud vectors, but it also removes one of the last public-access tools for financial privacy and cash-to-crypto conversion,” Alex Davis, founder and CEO of blockchain company Mavryk, told CNBC earlier this year.

“The question isn’t whether crypto ATMs should exist; it’s whether society is comfortable with a future where every dollar must pass through a fully surveilled, fully permissioned gatekeeper.”