US lawmakers on 22 July pressed federal regulators to tighten oversight of cryptocurrency ATMs after Americans lost a reported $388 million to scams involving the machines in a single year, with elderly citizens among the most frequent victims. The issue came to a head during a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing focused on financial crime enforcement.

Key Developments at the Hearing

The session centred on Andrea Gacki, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), who faced pointed questions from both Democratic and Republican members. Democratic Representative Sean Casten of Illinois cited FBI data showing the $388 million figure in reported losses, adding that the true toll was likely higher given widespread underreporting. Casten called for mandatory customer identification, transaction reporting requirements, and a formal registry of ATM locations.

Representative Bill Foster, also an Illinois Democrat, painted a stark picture of how the machines are being weaponised against elderly Americans. 'They come in, they’re crying, they pour their life savings, or they ask for their life savings out in cash, and then they go next door and dump it into a Bitcoin ATM,' Foster said. 'And then they come back two hours later and say, how do we get our money back?'

What FinCEN Said

'The crypto ATMs is something FinCEN has been very focused on,' Gacki told the subcommittee, noting that ATM operators are classified as money services businesses and are already required to register with the agency. She declined to endorse specific legislation but confirmed that FinCEN would provide technical assistance to Congress as it considers new rules.

This comes amid a prior FinCEN advisory — issued last year — that flagged cryptocurrency ATMs as attractive to scammers and documented high levels of non-compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. Notably, financial institutions have filed more than 850,000 suspicious activity reports involving potential elder financial exploitation, representing more than $443 billion in reported suspicious activity, according to Gacki.

The Stablecoin Accountability Question

The hearing also turned to whether stablecoin issuers should be required to intervene when stolen digital assets move through their networks. Foster cited a report from American Banker alleging that North Korean hackers drained approximately $280 million from a cryptocurrency exchange on 1 April and routed the funds through Circle Internet Group's stablecoin network. He noted that Circle had the technical capability to freeze tokens at any wallet address but reportedly did not do so.

Gacki said Treasury officials work closely with stablecoin issuers — including Circle and Tether — to freeze and seize assets, but stopped short of drawing conclusions on the specific incident. 'I’d like to understand this a little bit more before I can provide an answer,' she said.

What Could Change Next

Foster asked FinCEN to examine whether states that have banned cryptocurrency ATMs report fewer scam incidents than those that permit them — a comparison that could inform federal legislation. Several states have already imposed transaction limits and other consumer-protection restrictions on the machines.

With bipartisan concern mounting and a formal legislative push underway, the pressure on FinCEN and Congress to act on crypto ATM oversight is unlikely to ease in the months ahead.