Missouri’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against crypto ATM operator CoinFlip, accusing the company of knowingly facilitating fraudulent transactions and profiting from them, in the latest state-level crackdown on digital currency kiosks across the US.
The lawsuit, announced Wednesday by Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, targets GPD Holdings, the parent company operating under the CoinFlip brand. The state is seeking to ban CoinFlip from operating in Missouri entirely, and is asking the court to impose civil penalties of $1,000 per violation over the past five years, amounting to up to $1.826 million in total fines, alongside restitution to affected consumers.
Seniors and veterans among the victims
The AG’s office said the lawsuit was driven by a pattern of fraud incidents involving some of Missouri’s most vulnerable residents, including seniors and veterans. Authorities allege CoinFlip’s practices violate the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, citing deceptive fee structures and insufficient safeguards against fraudulent use of its machines.
The action follows a formal investigation launched in December 2025 by Missouri authorities into multiple crypto ATM companies operating in the state. CoinFlip currently runs 136 crypto kiosks in Missouri and over 4,200 across the United States.
CoinFlip had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publishing.
A sector under mounting pressure
Missouri is far from alone in targeting crypto ATM operators. States and municipalities across the US have increasingly passed laws, ordinances, and restrictions on crypto kiosks, reflecting growing concern over their role in enabling fraud, particularly against elderly and financially vulnerable consumers.
Tennessee has moved to restrict the technology, Minnesota is weighing an outright ban following a string of scam reports, and the sector’s largest players are feeling the pressure. Bitcoin Depot, one of the biggest crypto ATM operators in North America with more than 9,000 kiosks globally, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas just last week, days after disclosing in a regulatory filing that “substantial doubt exists about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” The filing cited over $20 million in legal judgments in the fourth quarter of 2025 and ongoing litigation as key factors.
Growing calls for federal oversight
The wave of state-level enforcement highlights an increasingly urgent question: whether a patchwork of state laws is sufficient to address fraud in the crypto ATM sector, or whether the industry requires a unified federal standard to protect consumers more consistently.
For now, state attorneys general are filling the gap, and CoinFlip has become the latest operator to find itself in their crosshairs.
