Rep. Nathan Sosa, a Hillsboro Democrat, and Rep. Dwayne Yunker, a Grants Pass Republican, confirmed Thursday they will introduce legislation in the 2027 session to prohibit the machines, sometimes called Bitcoin ATMs. The session convenes in mid-January.

The push follows mounting losses. The FBI received 256 reports of crypto-kiosk scams in Oregon in 2025, with victims losing a combined $5.2 million, according to agency figures. Nationally, reported losses tied to the machines exceeded $389 million last year.

Those numbers almost certainly understate the problem, said Andrea Meyer, government relations director for AARP Oregon, which backs a ban. Many victims never report the crimes, and FBI statistics show the schemes disproportionately hit people over 50.

The typical scam follows a familiar script: A caller posing as a police officer, government agent or company lawyer tells the target that a relative is in trouble, that they owe back taxes or that their accounts have been compromised. The caller threatens arrest, legal action or financial ruin unless the victim quickly buys cryptocurrency at a nearby kiosk and sends it to an address the scammer controls. Because crypto transfers are decentralized and immediate, the money is usually gone before anyone can intervene.

"These machines provide a unique getaway vehicle for the crime," Meyer said, "where there's little opportunity for anyone to stop the victim, and then the money is basically instantly gone and irretrievable."

More than 200 crypto kiosks currently operate across Oregon, according to the online tracker Coin ATM Radar. Law enforcement groups have endorsed similar bans in other states, citing the near-impossibility of recovering funds once a transaction is completed.

Several states have recently enacted or proposed statewide prohibitions. Some local governments have tried narrower rules. In 2025, the Albany City Council updated its zoning code to bar crypto kiosks from residential areas and from sites near senior care facilities, bus routes and schools.

The cryptocurrency industry has opposed such restrictions, arguing they punish legitimate users and do little to curb fraud. Ban supporters counter that residents who want to buy digital currency can still do so online or through other accessible channels.

"If you want to invest or you want to transfer money, there's other ways to do that," Yunker said. "It doesn't need to be in the back of a convenience store."

The proposal adds Oregon to a growing list of states weighing whether the convenience of cash-to-crypto machines is worth the cost to victims, many of them elderly and unlikely to recover their savings.