California DFAL Crypto Kiosk Provisions

Chapter 9 was added by SB 401, Chapter 871, Statutes of 2023. The statute defines a digital financial asset transaction kiosk as an electronic information processing device capable of accepting or dispensing physical U.S. currency in exchange for a digital financial asset. An “operator” is a person that owns, operates, or manages a kiosk located in California. The law also defines “charges” broadly to include customer-paid fees or expenses and the difference between the market price of the digital financial asset on a licensed exchange and the price charged to the customer.

The DFPI describes the kiosk provisions as part of DFAL’s consumer-protection framework for crypto businesses and notes that kiosk operators became subject to separate phase-in dates that were not changed by AB 1934, except for the licensing alignment date. AB 39 and SB 401 together comprise DFAL, while AB 1934 later extended the general DFAL licensing date from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2026.

Effective Jan. 1, 2024, a kiosk operator may not accept or dispense more than $1,000 in a day from or to a customer via a digital financial asset transaction kiosk. Operators must also provide DFPI with a list of all kiosk locations they own, operate, or manage in California and submit updates within 30 days of any change. DFPI must make the operator location lists available publicly on its website.

The same phase-in includes receipt requirements. For any transaction made at the operator’s kiosk, the operator must provide a receipt that includes the customer name, transaction date and time, operator name, amount of digital financial asset involved, U.S. dollar amount, fees, spread between the customer price and the listed exchange price, and the name of the licensed exchange used to calculate that spread.

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, kiosk operators may not collect direct or indirect charges from a customer related to a single digital financial asset transaction that exceed the greater of $5 or 15% of the U.S. dollar equivalent of the digital financial assets involved in the transaction, measured using the publicly quoted market price on a licensed digital financial asset exchange when the customer initiates the transaction.

Also effective Jan. 1, 2025, operators must provide written pre-transaction disclosures in English and in the same language principally used to advertise, solicit, or negotiate with the customer. The disclosure must be clear and conspicuous, separate from other disclosures, and include transaction terms such as the digital asset amount, fees and charges, customer price, exchange-listed price, and a finality warning if the operator does not offer reversal or refund.

AB 1934 amended Financial Code section 3907 to move the kiosk licensing alignment date to July 1, 2026. On or after that date, an operator that engages in digital financial asset business activity must comply with the general DFAL licensing provision. If a kiosk operator does not itself engage in digital financial asset business activity but allows another person to do so through a kiosk it owns, operates, or manages, the operator must ensure that the other person is licensed, ensure charges comply with the statutory fee cap, and comply with the remaining Chapter 9 provisions.

This is a California state-law profile within the United States. It does not cover federal money-services-business obligations, Bank Secrecy Act compliance, securities or commodities classification, or every DFAL chapter. It is most relevant to crypto ATM operators, cash-to-crypto kiosk networks, retailers hosting kiosks, digital asset exchange partners, and vendors that support kiosk transactions involving California residents.