BlockBeats report: On April 29, the Canadian federal government announced plans to fully ban cryptocurrency ATMs to protect the public from scammers. This initiative was formally introduced in the government’s spring economic update, which characterized cryptocurrency ATMs as “a primary tool used by fraudsters to deceive victims and by criminals to launder money.” Cryptocurrency ATMs allow users to deposit cash and exchange it for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which are then transferred to virtual wallets anywhere in the world—making these machines a primary channel through which scammers in Canada acquire victims’ funds.
Canada currently has the highest number of cryptocurrency ATMs per capita in the world, with nearly 4,000 machines nationwide, but it still lacks specific regulatory frameworks for this industry. The Canadian government states that, even after the ban takes effect, citizens can still purchase virtual currencies through physical money service providers.