North Dakota Virtual Currency Kiosk Licensing Law

HB 1447 defines a virtual-currency kiosk as an electronic terminal that acts as the mechanical agent of a kiosk operator and enables the operator to facilitate the exchange of virtual currency for money, bank credit or other virtual currency. The definition includes terminals that connect directly to a separate virtual-currency exchange and terminals that draw on virtual currency held by the terminal’s operator.

The law also amends the definitions in NDCC Section 13-09.1-44 to cover blockchain analytics, transaction hashes, virtual-currency addresses, kiosk operators, kiosk transactions and wallets. Virtual-currency business activity includes exchanging, transferring or storing virtual currency, or engaging in virtual-currency administration, subject to the scope and exemptions in the money transmission chapter.

The central licensing rule is in NDCC Section 13-09.1-50. A kiosk operator may not engage in virtual-currency business activity, or hold itself out as able to do so for another person, unless it is licensed in North Dakota as a money transmitter. The operator must also comply with all money transmitter requirements under Chapter 13-09.1.

The law adds kiosk-location controls. A virtual-currency kiosk may be placed in North Dakota only if it is in a commercially accessible area, accessible to users with mobility limitations and subject to security features such as sufficient lighting and surveillance. Operators must submit quarterly location reports to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions within 45 days after each calendar quarter, including legal name, trade name, address, start and end dates of operation and virtual-currency addresses associated with the kiosk.

NDCC Section 13-09.1-51 requires clear, conspicuous and readable disclosures in the customer’s chosen language. The kiosk must present warnings about fraud schemes, irreversibility, user error and the risk that funds lost to fraud may not be recoverable. The statute also requires disclosure of material risks, fees, exchange rates, transaction amounts, liability policies, refund policies and contact information.

• Receipts: after each transaction, an operator must offer a physical or digital receipt secured with two-factor identification and containing details such as transaction hash, virtual-currency addresses, fees, exchange rate and fraud-reporting information.
• Daily limit: an operator may not accept more than $2,000 in cash or virtual-currency equivalent per calendar day from a single customer through one or more kiosks operated by the same operator.
• Customer service: operators must provide live customer service at least Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Central Time, and display the toll-free number on the kiosk or kiosk screens.

NDCC Section 13-09.1-52 requires kiosk operators to use blockchain analytics software to assist in detecting and preventing suspicious activity, including transactions to wallets known to be affiliated with fraud and patterns suggesting money laundering or other illicit activity. The Commissioner may request evidence that a kiosk operator is using blockchain analytics.

Operators must also take reasonable steps to detect and prevent fraud, establish a written antifraud policy, maintain an enhanced due diligence policy approved by the board or equivalent governing body, and designate full-time compliance and consumer-protection officers who satisfy ownership and qualification restrictions. The North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions summarizes the regime as regulating crypto ATMs under NDCC Section 13-09.1-50 and lists the $2,000 limit, disclosures, receipts, fraud controls and live customer-service requirements as consumer protections under HB 1447.