| The machine at Beckett's local Circle K was one of more than 8,000 operated by Bitcoin Depot in gas stations, grocery stores and other retailers across the United States.
As crypto ATMs have multiplied — there are nearly 40,000 machines operated by various companies worldwide, industry publication Coin ATM Radar reported — fraud complaints have exploded, up 99% in 2024, according to the FBI, and are predicted to reach new heights in 2025.
The surge has become a problem for the entire crypto ATM industry, raising questions about whether the retailers that host the machines are doing enough to protect consumers. Circle K told ICIJ and its reporting partner CNN that its staff have been trained to recognize common scams, but workers are not responsible for customers' interactions with the bitcoin machines. Bitcoin Depot said protecting consumers was "central" to its model.
Yet in a lawsuit against Bitcoin Depot filed in early 2025, Iowa's attorney general wrote that a statewide analysis of transactions conducted on the company's machines between October 2021 and July 2024 suggested that more than half involved scams.
"If we were to eliminate scams 100%, we would be hurting," a former employee who asked for anonymity to discuss the matter told ICIJ. Read more.
BINANCE REPORT QUESTIONED
After ICIJ revealed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of suspect cryptocurrency landed in Binance accounts, the exchange claimed on-platform illicit activity had dropped sharply since 2023. But analytics firm Chainalysis says Binance's report failed to include funds stolen through hacks and ransomware.
THE DATA BEHIND DAMASCUS DOSSIER
ICIJ and its partners organized and analyzed thousands of chilling photographs to assemble comprehensive victim lists and quantify the human toll behind a sensitive data leak: a huge photographic archive of bodies of more than 10,200 Syrian detainees who died at the hands of the Assad regime.
HUIONE PAY SHUTDOWN
Cambodia's central bank ordered financial services conglomerate Huione Group to shut down its payment services arm, following a slew of global controversies and increasing pressure on the pariah firm featured in ICIJ's Coin Laundry investigation.
Thanks for reading!
Carmen Molina Acosta
ICIJ's digital producer
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