Virginia committee advances bill to regulate crypto kiosks, including new-user holds and transaction limits
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Summary
The House Committee on Communications, Technology and Innovation voted to report House Bill 665, a substitute that would license virtual currency kiosk operators, require ID checks and temporary holds for new users, and set transaction limits to curb fraud; the committee recorded the vote as 16–6.
The House Committee on Communications, Technology and Innovation on Feb. 2 accepted a substitute for House Bill 665 and voted to report the measure to the next stage of consideration. The bill, introduced by Delegate Maldonado, would create a state regulatory framework for virtual currency kiosks — ATM-like machines that sell cryptocurrency — and add a set of consumer protections.
Supporters told the committee the machines have been exploited in scams, particularly targeting elderly and vulnerable Virginians. "Because they're currently unregulated, and the transactions are difficult to trace, they are frequently used as tools for fraud," Delegate Maldonado said in committee. She described protections in the substitute including licensing, ID verification on transactions, a 48-hour temporary hold for new users, daily and monthly transaction limits and reporting requirements for operators.
Why it matters: proponents said the protections would give victims a short window to recover funds and reduce large losses. Jared Calvi of ARP Virginia said the substitute's transaction limits could have reduced a recent Roanoke loss from $15,000 to $2,000. Financial-industry witnesses including the Virginia Bankers Association, the Virginia Association of Community Banks and the Virginia Credit Union Association urged support, citing growing, organized scams that target seniors.
Industry concerns: companies that operate kiosks said they generally back state licensing but objected to a proposed monthly aggregate cap. Claire Wolfson of CoinFlip said the cap would harm returning customers and people without bank access, and Bitcoin Depot counsel Zach Lemaster raised similar concerns. "On the monthly aggregate limit, we really see problems for people who... don't have bank accounts," Wolfson told the committee.
Committee action and next steps: the committee accepted the substitute and recorded a final vote to report HB 665 with the substitute (the roll-call result in the transcript shows the bill "reports 16–6"). The bill will proceed according to committee procedure; the substitute also increases fee caps and tightens a new-user definition, provisions supporters said will help defray state costs for regulation.
The committee record shows some members sought a clarification and the clerk re-opened the roll before the final vote; a point of order asked whether a member had an ATM business interest, which the chair allowed to be clarified before re-voting. The committee then moved on to other items on the docket.