There are 77 Bitcoin Depot machines in Evansville. The company shut their machines down remotely after the emergency declaration took effect on Tuesday, March 10. There are more than 70 cryptocurrency ATMs in Evansville, where historically people could buy or send digital currency like bitcoins at a kiosk just like an ATM. Such machines are outlawed in Indiana due to being used to defraud vulnerable individuals.
Evansville Police Department Sergeant Nathan Vancleave said they’re now illegal in Indiana because they have been used to defraud vulnerable people out of a lot of money. He cited that the number of reports has doubled each year for the last four years, totaling over $400,000 in losses with an average of about $11,000 per incident. McNamara argued that there is no oversight or regulation in the state, enabling the machines to move or launder money and stating there is really no legitimate purpose for their existence.
She said in the three months since her bill was introduced, there was about $40,000 scammed from local residents. It’s a nationwide problem, costing people across the nation billions of dollars, she said. Evansville Police spent Tuesday informing shop owners to unplug the machines to follow the law, as the emergency declaration takes effect immediately. Bitcoin Depot still lists over 24,000 locations worldwide on its site.
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