The North Dakota Senate has passed a bill that regulates crypto ATMs while re-adding a provision capping daily transactions at $2,000 per user that was originally dropped by the state’s House.

The state’s Senate passed House Bill 1447 in a 45-to-1 vote on March 18. The bill was introduced to the state’s legislative assembly on Jan. 15 and aims to protect residents from scams by introducing a slate of new guidelines for crypto ATMs and their operators.

The latest version of the bill passed by the Senate requires crypto ATM and kiosk operators to be licensed in the state as money transmitters, limits customer withdrawals across their network of ATMs to $2,000 per day, and issues fraud warning notices.

Initially, the bill limited crypto ATM customer transactions to $1,000 a day, but a House committee last month loosened the limits, with a $2,000 a day limit for the first five transactions within 30 days.

Now, the Senate has capped the transaction limits at $2,000. The bill will need to be sent back to the House to vote on the changes before North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong can either veto or sign the bill into law.

The bill would also require operators to use blockchain analytics to monitor for suspicious activity, such as fraud, and report it to the authorities, and to provide quarterly reports on kiosk locations, names and transaction data.

During a North Dakota House Industry, Business and Labor committee hearing on Jan. 22, the bill’s primary sponsor, House Representative Steve Swiontek, said that crypto ATMs currently lack protection measures, which has “allowed criminals to exploit them for theft.”

Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen had signed similar legislation into law on March 13, the Controllable Electronic Record Fraud Prevention Act, which is designed to help combat fraud.

Meanwhile, US Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who formerly chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, proposed similar federal legislation on Feb. 25.

Durbin cited a story from a constituent who fell prey to a scammer claiming the authorities had issued a warrant for their arrest but could pay a fine through a $15,000 deposit at a crypto ATM to avoid jail as motivation for introducing the new law. 

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Last September, the Federal Trade Commission reported fraud losses at Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs had increased nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023 and topped $65 million in the first half of 2024, with consumers aged 60 and older three times more likely to fall victim.

Coin ATM Radar data shows that the US still has the most Bitcoin ATMs, with 29,822 machines representing 78% of the global market.

Canada ranks second, at 9.2% of the market and 3,486 crypto ATMs, while Australia is third with 1,613 crypto ATMs, representing 4.3% of the market. 

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Minnesota state Senator Jeremy Miller has introduced the Minnesota Bitcoin Act, which he drafted after completely changing his stance on Bitcoin.

“As I do more research on cryptocurrency and hear from more and more constituents, I’ve gone from being highly skeptical to learning more about it, to believing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,” Miller said in a March 18 statement.

Miller said the bill aims to “promote prosperity” for Minnesotans by allowing the Minnesota State Board of Investment to invest state assets in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, just as it invests in traditional assets.

Several other US states have introduced similar Bitcoin-buying bills, with 23 states having introduced legislation to create a Bitcoin reserve, according to Bitcoin Laws.

Under Miller’s bill, Minnesota state employees would be able to add Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their retirement accounts.

It would also give residents the option to pay state taxes and fees with Bitcoin. Colorado and Utah already accept crypto for tax payments, while Louisiana allows it for state services.

Investment gains from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would also be exempt from state income taxes. In the US, up to $10,000 paid to the state can be deducted from federal taxes under the state and local tax deduction, but any amount beyond that is subject to both state and federal tax obligations.

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The increasing number of US states proposing Bitcoin reserve bills follows Senator Cynthia Lummis’ July Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, which directs the federal government to buy 200,000 Bitcoin annually over five years, totaling 1 million Bitcoin.

However, on March 12, Lummis proposed a newly reintroduced BITCOIN Act, allowing the government to potentially hold more than 1 million Bitcoin as part of its newly established reserve.

Bitcoin has shown significant gains compared to traditional assets in recent years. From August 2011 to January 2025, Bitcoin posted a compound annual growth rate of 102.36%, compared to the S&P 500’s 14.83%, according to Curvo data.

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Institutional investors are increasingly bullish on cryptocurrency, with 83% saying they plan to up crypto allocations in 2025, according to a March 18 report by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon. 

Already, nearly three-quarters of firms surveyed said they hold cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and a “significant majority” said they plan to boost crypto allocations to 5% or more of their portfolios, the report said. 

They are motivated by the view that “cryptocurrencies represent the best opportunity to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns over the next three years,” according to the report.

Coinbase, the US’ largest crypto exchange, and EY-Parthenon, a consultancy, based the findings on interviews with more than 350 institutional investors in January. 

Among institutional altcoin holdings, XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL) are the most popular, the survey found. 

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Altcoin ETFs incoming

Altcoin holdings could rise even further if US regulators approve planned exchange-traded fund (ETF) listings this year.

Asset managers are awaiting a greenlight from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to list more than a dozen proposed altcoin ETFs. 

Litecoin (LTC), SOL and XRP are seen as the most likely to see near-term approval, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. 

On March 17, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, the largest US derivatives exchange by volume, launched futures contracts tied to SOL, marking a significant step toward institutional adoption of the altcoin. 

Stablecoins and DeFi take off

Meanwhile, stablecoins continue to see institutional uptake, with 84% of respondents either holding stablecoins or exploring doing so, the survey found. 

According to the report, institutions are using “stablecoins for a variety of use cases beyond just facilitating crypto transactions, including generating yield (73%), foreign exchange (69%), internal cash management (68%), and external payments (63%).”

In December, investment bank Citi said stablecoin adoption will accelerate onchain activity, including in decentralized finance (DeFi). 

The survey found that only 24% of institutional investors currently use DeFi platforms, but that figure is expected to grow to nearly 75% in the next two years. 

“Institutions are attracted to DeFi for myriad reasons, citing derivatives, staking, and lending as the use cases they are most interested in, followed closely by access to altcoins, crossborder settlements, and yield farming,” the report said.

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