Georgia Passes Sweeping Bitcoin ATM Law: 18% Fee Cap, Fraud

Georgia's House Bill 945 establishes the most comprehensive state-level Bitcoin ATM regulatory framework in the country, combining an 18% cap on transaction fees, daily transaction limits, and a first-of-its-kind mandate requiring operators to refund scam victims within 72 hours. The bill passed the Georgia House on February 6, 2026, and the Senate on March 10, 2026, and now awaits Governor Brian Kemp's signature. What makes this significant isn't just the rules — it's the approach. While Massachusetts, Iowa, Missouri, and the District of Columbia have relied on retroactive enforcement actions and attorney general lawsuits to police Bitcoin ATM operators after consumers are harmed, Georgia is writing the rules before the next wave of losses. And there's a pointed irony here: Bitcoin Depot, the nation's largest Bitcoin ATM operator, is headquartered in Atlanta — squarely within its home state's new regulatory crosshairs.

18%

Maximum Transaction Fee

$2,500

Daily Limit — New Customers

$10,000

Daily Limit — Existing Customers

72 hrs

Mandatory Refund Window for Fraud Victims

What HB 945 Requires

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Williamson (R-Monroe) with co-sponsors Reps. Williams and Chastain, was structured as the Department of Banking and Finance's annual housekeeping bill — a legislative vehicle that typically handles routine regulatory updates. This year, it carries anything but routine provisions for virtual currency kiosks. HB 945 advanced through both the House and Senate Banking and Finance Committees with bipartisan support. Senate Banking Committee Chair Carden Summers shepherded it through the upper chamber.

Key Provisions of Georgia HB 945:

Chart summarizing key sourced metrics. — Key sourced metrics. Visualize the strongest filing metrics as a simple chart. Source: Bitcoin ATM News reporting

Fee cap: Transaction fees cannot exceed 18% — closing the door on the 20–33% markups documented in AG lawsuits elsewhere
Daily transaction limits: $2,500 for new customers; $10,000 for existing customers
72-hour refund mandate: Operators must issue refunds to verified scam victims within three days of a verified complaint
Disclosure requirements: Clear, upfront fee and risk disclosures at the kiosk before a transaction begins
Live customer support: Operators must provide access to a live person — not just chatbots or FAQ pages

The fee cap represents a middle ground. Iowa set its cap at 15% when it passed its own Bitcoin ATM law. Georgia's 18% threshold gives operators slightly more room but still represents a significant constraint on an industry where effective fees have routinely exceeded 20% — and in some cases reached 33% or more when factoring in spread markups that operators don't always disclose as "fees." The daily limits are also notably more generous than Iowa's $1,000 ceiling. Georgia's $2,500 new-customer limit and $10,000 existing-customer limit reflect an attempt to balance consumer protection against scams — where larger transactions correlate strongly with fraud — without shutting down the machines for legitimate high-volume users.

Proactive Legislation vs. Retroactive Lawsuits

Georgia's approach marks a strategic departure from the enforcement-first model that has dominated state-level Bitcoin ATM regulation over the past 18 months. Consider the contrast. The Massachusetts Attorney General filed a consumer protection and securities fraud lawsuit against Bitcoin Depot in February 2025, alleging drip pricing, fee cap violations in over 7,000 transactions, and that more than 80% of customers depositing $10,000 or more were scam victims. Iowa's Attorney General sued Bitcoin Depot and Athena Bitcoin in early March 2025, leading to that state's own fee caps and transaction limit law. Missouri's Attorney General issued Civil Investigative Demands to five major operators — Bitcoin Depot, RockItCoin, CoinFlip, Athena Bitcoin, and Byte Federal — in December 2024. Each of those actions came after consumers had already been harmed. Georgia is attempting to prevent the harm in the first place. The distinction matters. Lawsuits are expensive, slow, and only address the operators named as defendants. Legislation sets the rules for every operator in the state simultaneously. Georgia's framework gives its Department of Banking and Finance a clear enforcement baseline — if an operator charges 25% fees or refuses to refund a documented scam victim, the violation is unambiguous.

State-by-State Bitcoin ATM Regulatory Comparison:

Iowa (2025 law): 15% fee cap, $1,000 daily transaction limit, refund mandates — enacted via legislation following AG lawsuits
Georgia (HB 945): 18% fee cap, $2,500/$10,000 daily limits, 72-hour refund mandate, live support requirement — proactive legislation
Massachusetts (2025): No specific Bitcoin ATM statute; enforcement via AG lawsuit alleging existing consumer protection violations
Missouri (2024): No Bitcoin ATM-specific law; investigation via Civil Investigative Demands issued December 2024
Alabama (proposed): Proposed bill with $1,000 daily limit — even more restrictive than Georgia or Iowa
DC: AG enforcement actions targeting unlicensed operators — no dedicated Bitcoin ATM statute

Local Pressure Fueling State Action

HB 945 didn't emerge in a vacuum. Forsyth County, Georgia has been drafting its own ordinances to regulate Bitcoin ATMs after local residents reported losing $5.9 million to crypto ATM scams in early 2025. The county-level effort underscores the political pressure Georgia lawmakers faced: when constituents are losing millions, the demand for action isn't theoretical. The national numbers add context. The FBI's latest Internet Crime Report found $333 million lost to Bitcoin ATM scams in 2025, with elderly victims disproportionately affected. Total crypto scam losses reached $11.4 billion. Georgia's legislative response reflects a growing bipartisan consensus that the industry's self-regulatory efforts have been insufficient.

Timeline: Georgia's Bitcoin ATM Regulatory Push

Infographic summarizing key sourced takeaways. — Key sourced takeaways. Summarize 2-4 sourced metrics in a compact infographic. Source: Bitcoin ATM News reporting

Early 2025: Forsyth County residents lose $5.9 million to crypto ATM scams
2025: Georgia Department of Banking and Finance issues cease-and-desist orders to unlicensed operators
February 6, 2026: HB 945 passes the Georgia House
March 10, 2026: HB 945 passes the Georgia Senate
April 2026: Bill awaits Governor Kemp's signature

The Hometown Operator Problem

The elephant in the room is Bitcoin Depot. The Atlanta-based company operates the largest Bitcoin ATM network in the country and trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker BTM. It faces active litigation from the Massachusetts and Iowa Attorneys General, and was among the operators who received CIDs from Missouri. HB 945's 18% fee cap is particularly notable when placed alongside Iowa's 15% cap. Bitcoin Depot has historically charged fees that, including embedded exchange rate markups, have exceeded both thresholds — the Massachusetts AG alleged that true all-in costs reached as high as 33% in some transactions. Georgia's cap, while more permissive than Iowa's, would still represent a meaningful ceiling if enforced against the full cost of a transaction, not just the disclosed fee line. The 72-hour refund mandate could prove even more consequential. Bitcoin ATM operators have traditionally argued that cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible and that they cannot be held responsible for consumers who send funds to scammers. Georgia's law effectively rejects that argument by placing the refund obligation on the operator — a significant shift in who bears the financial risk of fraud. Athena Bitcoin, another publicly traded operator (OTCID: ABIT) with at least 14 active Georgia locations, also faces direct compliance obligations under the new framework. Athena already carries two NMLS adverse actions and resolved consent orders in Alabama and Minnesota.

Enforcement Is Already Underway

Georgia isn't relying on HB 945 alone. The Department of Banking and Finance has simultaneously issued cease-and-desist orders against operators running unlicensed Bitcoin ATMs, including RocketBTM, Bullet Blockchain, and Crypto Dispensers. This dual approach — legislation plus enforcement — signals that Georgia's regulators view the Bitcoin ATM industry as requiring both clear rules and active policing. The cease-and-desist actions address the licensing gap for operators who never registered, while HB 945 creates new substantive obligations for those who did. Operators without proper licensing should expect enforcement, not grace periods.

What This Means for Georgia Bitcoin ATM Users

If HB 945 is signed into law, Georgia consumers can expect:

Lower fees: No operator can charge you more than 18% total on a transaction — if you're being charged more, file a complaint with the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance
Transaction limits that slow scam losses: New customers are capped at $2,500/day, making it harder for scammers to extract large sums quickly
Refund rights: If you're a verified fraud victim, operators must refund your money within 72 hours — a right that does not currently exist
Live support: You'll be able to reach an actual person if something goes wrong — if a machine has no way to reach a real person, it may be operating outside the law
Clearer disclosures: Fees and risks must be disclosed clearly at the kiosk before you complete a transaction

If you've already lost money to a Bitcoin ATM scam in Georgia, check our consumer protection resources for guidance on filing complaints with the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the FTC.

What This Means for Operators

HB 945 creates operational obligations that will require real infrastructure investment — not just compliance paperwork. The 72-hour refund mandate is the most operationally demanding provision. Operators will need fraud verification processes, refund disbursement systems, and sufficient liquidity reserves to cover refunds. For smaller operators, this may be cost-prohibitive. For larger operators like Bitcoin Depot, it represents a direct financial liability that will need to be disclosed to investors and factored into revenue projections. The fee cap requires operators to examine their full cost structure. If Georgia's Department of Banking and Finance interprets the 18% cap to include embedded exchange rate markups — as the Massachusetts AG argued those markups should be counted — many operators will need to restructure their pricing models entirely. The live support requirement means operators can't rely solely on automated systems. Combined with the refund mandate, this creates staffing obligations that raise operating costs across the board. For the industry nationally, Georgia's legislative approach may prove more consequential than any single AG lawsuit. Lawsuits create precedent for one operator at a time. Legislation creates rules for every operator at once — and gives other state legislatures a template to copy. Alabama is already following a similar path.

What to Watch

Governor Kemp has not yet signed HB 945 as of April 7, 2026. Given the bill's bipartisan passage through both chambers, a veto would be surprising — but the governor's office has not publicly committed to a signing timeline. The real questions begin after signature. How will the Department of Banking and Finance interpret the 18% fee cap — does it cover only the disclosed fee, or the total cost including exchange rate markup? How will the 72-hour refund mandate be enforced when Bitcoin transactions are, by design, irreversible? And will Bitcoin Depot, operating under regulatory pressure from its home state, push back through legal challenges or adapt its business model? The broader trend is unmistakable. With the FBI reporting $333 million lost to Bitcoin ATM scams in 2025 and the U.S. Bitcoin ATM fleet shrinking by more than 550 machines in Q1 2026 alone, the industry is facing a regulatory reckoning. Georgia didn't wait for a headline-grabbing lawsuit to act. Whether that proactive approach becomes the template other state legislatures follow will define the next chapter of Bitcoin ATM regulation in America.

Georgia Passes Sweeping Bitcoin ATM Law: 18% Fee Cap, Fraud Refunds, and Transaction Limits