- 61 Bitstop kiosks transmitted money in Ohio from December 2025 to March 2026 with no Ohio money transmitter license, according to the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions
- $10,500 civil penalty and a consented cease and desist order, signed July 6, 2026 (Case No. MT2026-001)
- 23 of the 61 sites are former PowerCoin, Coin Cloud or Margo locations in PowerCoin's own terminal records, reviewed by Bitcoin ATM News
- Third state to act on unlicensed Bitstop transmission, after Connecticut (June 2024) and Nebraska (November 2025)
- Machines must stay dark: Bitstop must certify on the first of every month that its Ohio kiosks are not operational until it is licensed or removes them
Bitstop switched on 61 Bitcoin kiosks across Ohio in the winter of 2025 without ever holding an Ohio money transmitter license, and has now agreed to a cease and desist order and a $10,500 civil penalty to close the matter. The Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions accepted a Stipulation and Consent from ATM OPS INC d/b/a Bitstop on July 6, 2026, terminating a Notice of Intent it had served on March 23, 2026. Bitcoin ATM News obtained the Division Order, the Consent Agreement and its Appendix A kiosk list; the Division has not posted them online.
The order matters beyond Ohio for two reasons. It is the third state in two years to find Bitstop transmitting money without a license, a threshold obligation for any kiosk operator. And the window Ohio identified, December 2025 through March 2026, lines up with the period in which Chicago Atlantic was in court arguing that Bitstop had taken control of Bitcoin ATMs pledged as collateral by PowerCoin, the collapsed Daryl Heller operator. Bitcoin ATM News matched the 61 Ohio addresses against PowerCoin's internal terminal records and found that 23 of them were PowerCoin, Coin Cloud or Margo sites before they reappeared under Bitstop's name.
Case Information
What Ohio Found
The Consent Agreement is short on narrative but specific on facts. Bitstop signed it through CEO Andrew Barnard, with counsel Kubs Lalchandani, and represented that the factual findings are true and accurate.
Findings Bitstop stipulated to:
- No license, ever: ATM OPS INC "has never held an Ohio money transmitter license."
- Four months of transmission: "From December 2025 until March 2026 Respondent conducted money transmission through its Bitstop digital asset kiosks."
- 61 machines: As of March 2026, 61 Bitstop kiosks were deployed at Ohio retail establishments, listed by address in Appendix A.
- Voluntary shutdown: After the March 23 Notice of Intent, Bitstop disabled all of its Ohio machines.
Ohio law allows the Superintendent to assess up to $500 per day for each violation. Against 61 machines over roughly four months, the statutory exposure ran well into seven figures. The $10,500 Bitstop agreed to works out to about $172 per kiosk, and the Division committed not to bring further enforcement on these facts as long as Bitstop complies.
What the Order Requires
- No transmission in Ohio unless and until Bitstop obtains an Ohio money transmitter license.
- Monthly dark certifications. On or before the first of each month, Bitstop must certify on the Division's Appendix B form that its Ohio machines are not operational, until it is either licensed or has removed every machine listed in Appendix A.
- Removal notices. Bitstop must promptly notify the Division when it pulls any machine from an Appendix A location.
- No new deployments. Bitstop may not place additional machines in Ohio, operational or not, until licensed.
- Payment. $10,500 by cashier's check, money order or through NMLS within 14 days; unpaid balances go to the Ohio Attorney General's Collection Enforcement Section with interest and collection costs.
- Disclosure. The agreement is a disciplinary action that Bitstop must disclose on every future license application and renewal.
Bitstop waived its hearing, any findings of fact by a hearing officer, and its right to appeal. The order became effective on service.
Timeline
The PowerCoin Overlap
Appendix A lists 61 kiosk entries at 60 distinct Ohio addresses (one Norwalk Mickey Mart appears twice under different location IDs). Bitcoin ATM News compared those addresses against the PowerCoin LLC Site Management System export that underpinned our March 2026 investigation into Bitstop's absorption of the Heller network. Matching on house number, street and ZIP code, 23 of the 60 addresses are former PowerCoin terminal sites.
The 23 break down into four groups that PowerCoin's own system labelled by sub-group:
- Coin Cloud legacy sites (7). Kiosks PowerCoin inherited from the Coin Cloud bankruptcy, at Sunoco, Convenient Food Mart, Lakeview Market, Campbell's Foodland and similar independents. CoinATMRadar still carries their original 2022 and 2023 installation dates under Bitstop's name, which means the listings changed operator rather than being created new.
- UNFI grocery program sites (10). The Millers Market, Sanders Markets and Shop 'n Save stores across northern Ohio, tagged "UNFI" in PowerCoin's records after the United Natural Foods distribution relationship. Several of these terminals show no recorded transactions at all under PowerCoin, suggesting they were placed but never fully launched before the default.
- Sites PowerCoin had already tagged "Bitstop" (3). Three Sunoco locations in Mansfield, Elyria and Springfield carried the sub-group "Bitstop - Professional World" inside PowerCoin's system while still listed as "Powercoin Owned Powercoin Managed." That is consistent with Bitstop servicing PowerCoin's machines before the takeover that Chicago Atlantic now disputes.
- Other PowerCoin sub-groups (3). Two kiosks tagged "300 S. Washington, LLC" (the AmeriStop in Huber Heights and VIP Wireless in Cincinnati) and one independent-host Sunoco in Cuyahoga Falls.
Many of the matched terminals also carry the internal location status "Legal (Retention)" in PowerCoin's export. Bitcoin ATM News could not determine from the export what that designation meant in PowerCoin's operations, and Bitstop did not respond to prior requests for comment on the PowerCoin data.
| Appendix A location | Address | PowerCoin sub-group | Last PowerCoin transaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeview Market, Akron | 3102 S Main St, 44319 | Coin Cloud | 2024-10-01 |
| Millers Market, Ashland | 1617 Claremont Avenue, 44805 | UNFI | 2024-08-29 |
| Sanders Markets, Cadiz | 264 South Main Street, 43907 | UNFI - Sander's Market | None recorded |
| Sanders Markets, Carrollton | 501 West Main Street, 44615 | UNFI - Sander's Market | None recorded |
| VIP Wireless & Smoke Shop, Cincinnati | 2601 Short Vine St, 45219 | 300 S. Washington LLC | 2023-12-26 |
| Millers Market, Clyde | 505 West Maple Street, 43410 | UNFI | 2024-09-06 |
| Sunoco, Cuyahoga Falls | 2810 Bailey Rd, 44221 | Independent host | 2024-09-24 |
| Convenient Food Mart, Elyria | 1401 East Ave, 44035 | Coin Cloud | 2024-09-24 |
| K&B Sunoco, Elyria | 2091 Grafton Rd, 44035 | Bitstop - Professional World | 2024-10-02 |
| Sunoco, Elyria | 42163 N Ridge Rd, 44035 | Coin Cloud | 2024-09-11 |
| Millers Market, Genoa | 22361 West Holt Harrigan Road, 43430 | UNFI | 2024-08-31 |
| AmeriStop Trade Mart, Huber Heights | 5983 Old Troy Pike, 45424 | 300 S. Washington LLC | 2024-10-01 |
| Sanders Markets, Jefferson | 344 South Chestnut Street, 44047 | UNFI - Sander's Market | None recorded |
| Millers Market, Lodi | 711 Wooster Street, 44254 | UNFI | 2024-09-24 |
| Sunoco, Mansfield | 382 Lexington Ave, 44907 | Bitstop - Professional World | 2024-08-04 |
| Millers new market, Montpelier | 1444 Whitaker Way, 43543 | UNFI | None recorded |
| SHOP 'n SAVE, Newton Falls | 37 Ridge Road, 44444 | UNFI | 2024-02-17 |
| Millers Market, Norwalk | 117 Whittlesey Avenue, 44857 | UNFI | 2024-08-03 |
| Doc's Grocery and Drive Thru, Springfield | 908 W North St, 45504 | Coin Cloud | 2024-07-08 |
| Sunoco Gas Station, Springfield | 2118 E Main St, 45503 | Bitstop - Professional World | 2024-08-07 |
| Alexa Liquor Barn, Toledo | 2101 W Alexis Rd, 43613 | Coin Cloud | 2024-09-28 |
| The Cedar Room, Uniontown | 13069 Cleveland Ave NW, 44685 | Coin Cloud | 2024-09-23 |
| Campbell's Foodland, Zanesville | 3 S Maysville Ave, 43701 | Coin Cloud | 2024-09-18 |
The remaining 37 addresses do not appear in PowerCoin's records. Most belong to two chains, Rebel convenience stores in the Cleveland and Akron suburbs and Mickey Mart in the Sandusky area, along with a cluster of Canton-area independents entered without house numbers. Those look like organic Bitstop placements layered on top of the inherited PowerCoin footprint.
Why the overlap matters for the Chicago Atlantic case:
- Chicago Atlantic's Miami-Dade complaint alleges Bitstop converted PowerCoin kiosks and merchant relationships that secure its loan. Ohio's order contains a finding, stipulated to by Bitstop, that Bitstop transmitted money through the 61 Appendix A kiosks. The order says nothing about where those kiosks came from; the link to 23 former PowerCoin sites is Bitcoin ATM News' own address matching, described above.
- Ohio records show ATM OPS INC has never held a license in the state. Whoever ultimately owns the machines, the transmission at these addresses from December 2025 was unlicensed.
- The order also freezes the Ohio footprint in place: Bitstop cannot add machines and must report every removal, which creates a paper trail on where the disputed hardware goes next.
Three States, One Pattern
Ohio is not an outlier. Connecticut's Department of Banking entered a consent order with ATM OPS INC in June 2024 over unlicensed transmission from May through September 2023, with a $10,000 penalty. Nebraska issued a cease and desist in November 2025 for 40-plus unlicensed locations operated since August 2021 and a July 2023 licensing directive that went unanswered. Ohio's finding that Bitstop "has never held" a license there, while operating dozens of machines, fits the same pattern of deploying first and licensing later, or not at all.
Bitstop's regulatory record now includes two consented cease and desist orders with penalties and one pending cease and desist, alongside the Chicago Atlantic litigation and the Heller-related allegations. Bitstop holds an F trust grade on this site, the lowest tier. The Ohio order does not move that grade, because the score was already at its floor, but it does resolve a question our readers have asked: Bitstop does not hold an Ohio license.
Correction to our records: Bitcoin ATM News previously listed Ohio among Bitstop's state money transmitter licenses on the Bitstop operator page. The Ohio Consent Agreement states that ATM OPS INC has never held an Ohio license. We have removed Ohio from that list, reducing Bitstop's counted state licenses from 13 to 12, and updated the Ohio regulations page.
What This Means for Ohio Users
If you used a Bitstop kiosk in Ohio between December 2025 and March 2026:
- The machines were operating without the license Ohio requires. Under the Ohio Money Transmitter Act, licensees post a surety bond, currently $300,000 as summarized on our Ohio regulations page, and submit to Division examination; unlicensed operators offer none of that protection.
- Keep receipts, wallet addresses and any texts or emails from the transaction. If Bitcoin was not delivered or you were charged amounts you did not authorize, file a complaint with the Division of Financial Institutions.
- If you were directed to the kiosk by someone claiming to be the government, a utility or tech support, that is a scam. Report it to the Ohio Attorney General at 800-282-0515 and to the FBI's IC3.
- Every Bitstop kiosk in Ohio should be dark. If you find one accepting cash, note the address and report it to the Division; the order requires Bitstop to certify monthly that none are operational.
What to Watch
Three questions follow from the order. Will Bitstop apply for an Ohio license, which would require disclosing this action along with the Connecticut order and the Nebraska proceeding? Where do the 61 machines go, given that Bitstop must notify Ohio of every removal while Chicago Atlantic asks a Florida court to appoint a receiver over PowerCoin-linked kiosks? And which other states hosted former PowerCoin machines that relit under Bitstop's name without a license? PowerCoin's records place terminals in 46 states and territories, and Bitstop's licensed footprint covers 12.