Committee advances $1,000 daily limit on cryptocurrency kiosks, citing kupuna fraud risk

The House Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs on Feb. 25 advanced House Bill 1277 (HD1), a measure that would impose a $1,000-per-day transaction limit on purchases made at digital financial asset transaction kiosks (commonly called cryptocurrency ATMs).

AARP Hawaii State Director Kaylee E. Lopez told the committee that older adults are disproportionately victimized in crypto kiosk scams: "Individuals who are 60 and older were more than 3 times as likely as younger adults to report scams specifically from cryptocurrency kiosks," Lopez said, citing Federal Trade Commission reporting. She and other supporters urged limits to reduce large irreversible losses.

Industry witnesses urged a different approach. Kevin Lolli of CoinFlip said the company opposes the bill in its current form but supports consumer-protection regulation, arguing the bill should account for federal reporting thresholds and existing anti-money-laundering rules. "Should there be transaction limits, we would suggest that they apply to new users within the first 72 hours of becoming a customer," he testified.

Consumer advocates and local witnesses described substantial losses. Joshua Wish of Holomua Collaborative cited an FBI Internet Complaint Center report and said, "In 2023, Hawaii recorded 276 complaints related to cryptocurrency fraud resulting in total losses of over $31,000,000." Thomas Michner, an individual testifier, urged the limit as a simple consumer-protection tool: restricting daily kiosk losses, he said, would make Hawaii victims less tempting targets and encourage fraudsters to seek higher‑control channels.

The committee incorporated amendments suggested by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and voted to advance the bill with those edits.

The measure will move forward with the DCCA technical changes and will be available for further amendment in later stages of the session.