Kiosks and the regulatory answer: present in town, then banned statewide

L82-10 · Crypto-ATM presence in town; Indiana’s answer, dated

Both halves of this row resolve, and the second half overtakes the first: crypto-buying access was documented in New Carlisle before the ban, and Indiana then became the first state to ban virtual-currency kiosks outright, effective immediately on March 9, 2026. The presence half was tested against two registries. CoinATMRadar — the registry named in the audit — returned no New Carlisle listing in discovery for this section; a CoinATMRadar negative alone would have been inconclusive, because the second registry contradicts any “no presence” reading. Place-registry data for LibertyX, a cash-to-bitcoin network whose purchases run through retail counters and kiosk-style access points, lists active New Carlisle locations including: Lake Effect Liquors, 521 W. Michigan St., categorized “Crypto ATM” (41.705737, −86.517194); 820 W. Michigan St., categorized “Crypto ATM”; and 8989 US-20, categorized as an Automated Teller Machine with currency-exchange / financial-service secondary categories. The conflict between the two registries is printed whole: CoinATMRadar (as discoverable) shows nothing for the town; the LibertyX-fed place registry shows multiple active crypto points on the town’s two commercial streets. The honest synthesis is narrow — LibertyX-style crypto purchase access existed in town; whether a standalone, dedicated crypto-ATM cabinet of the CoinFlip / Bitcoin Depot type ever stood in town is not established by either registry, and the LibertyX listings must not be inflated into one.

The warning half predates the ban. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s consumer warning on cryptocurrency scams — carried in the AG’s release — names the exact kiosk script: a scammer impersonating a government worker, law-enforcement agency or utility directs the victim “to go to a store with a cryptocurrency ATM to pay what they claim you owe by scanning a QR code,” adding, in the release’s words, that government, law enforcement and utilities “will not require you to pay by cryptocurrency. Don’t do it.” Complaints run to indianaconsumer.com or 1-800-382-5516; unregistered-adviser issues to the Secretary of State’s Securities Division. The Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity’s later field blog (“Bitcoin ATMs — Dark Side of Cryptocurrency,” in.gov) supplies the scale behind the legislation: about 45,000 Bitcoin ATMs nationally, and FBI-reported 2024 kiosk-scam losses of nearly $250 million, more than double the prior year (other FBI figures in the record put 2025 losses higher still — $333 million in ATM Marketplace’s March 2026 account; 13,460 complaints and $388–$389 million in the FBI IC3 figures carried in fall-2026 reporting; the figures differ by year and series and are printed side by side, not averaged).

The statutory answer is House Enrolled Act 1116 (House Bill 1116, 2026; Public Law 143 in the General Assembly citation carried by secondary trackers). As introduced it would have licensed and limited kiosks; a Senate committee amendment (Sen. Scott Baldwin, adopted 7–0 on Feb. 11, 2026, per the Indiana Capital Chronicle) replaced regulation with prohibition. Governor Mike Braun signed it on March 9, 2026. The law — a new trade-regulation chapter, with violations made deceptive acts under the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act — provides that a person may not operate a virtual currency kiosk in Indiana, defines the kiosk broadly as an electronic terminal through which an operator remotely conducts or facilitates a virtual-currency transaction for a third party for compensation, empowers the Attorney General against both the operator and a premises owner who knowingly or intentionally permitted the violation, and took effect immediately, with no compliance grace period (Legal 500, Mar. 31, 2026; Orrick InfoBytes, Mar. 20, 2026; ATM Marketplace, Mar. 17, 2026, which calls Indiana the first state to ban the machines). Two confusions in the secondary record are flagged, not followed: one guide warns that “the exact effective date is not consistently reported,” against the primary-adjacent legal reporting above, which is consistent (signed March 9, 2026, effective immediately); and early coverage of the separate pensions bill, HB 1042 — which would open public retirement plans to crypto exposure from July 1, 2026 — sometimes folds the kiosk ban into HB 1042’s July 1 date. The ban is HEA 1116’s, and its date is March 9, 2026. Consequence for the town record: any LibertyX-style listing still showing “Active / Open Now” for a New Carlisle address after that date is, on the face of the statute, either stale registry data or an unlawful operation; the registry’s status field is not evidence the ban exempted this town, and no exemption exists in the law as reported.

Sources:

1. CoinATMRadar — searched for New Carlisle / Olive Township; no listing returned in discovery. Registry negative, inconclusive alone; see conflict note.
2. LibertyX-fed place registry listings for New Carlisle, IN — Lake Effect Liquors, 521 W. Michigan St. (“Crypto ATM”); 820 W. Michigan St. (“Crypto ATM”); 8989 US-20. CONFLICTS with the CoinATMRadar negative; printed unmerged.
3. Attorney General Todd Rokita, cryptocurrency-scam consumer warning (AG release, via Spotlight on Lake) — kiosk QR-code payment script described; “Don’t do it”; complaint routes given.
4. Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity blog, “Bitcoin ATMs — Dark Side of Cryptocurrency” (in.gov) — 45,000 U.S. Bitcoin ATMs; FBI 2024 losses nearly $250 million; HEA 1116 ban noted.
5. Indiana Capital Chronicle, Feb. 11, 2026 — HB 1116 converted from licensing to outright ban by Baldwin amendment, 7–0; AG enforcement against operator and premises owner; effective upon passage.
6. Legal 500, Mar. 31, 2026; Orrick InfoBytes, Mar. 20, 2026; ATM Marketplace, Mar. 17, 2026 — HEA 1116 signed by Gov. Braun Mar. 9, 2026; operation prohibited; Deceptive Consumer Sales Act enforcement; effective immediately; Indiana first state to ban.
7. FBI loss figures as carried in 2026 reporting — $333 million (2025, via ATM Marketplace) and 13,460 complaints / $388–$389 million (IC3, via fall-2026 trackers); differing series printed side by side, not merged.