On September 8, 2025, the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General filed suit in D.C. Superior Court against Athena Bitcoin, Inc. (Athena), one of the nation’s largest Bitcoin ATM (BTM) operators, for allegedly scamming District residents, and in particular, the District’s elderly population.
The suit alleges Athena violated the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA) and the Abuse, Neglect, and Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Adults and the Elderly Act (the Financial Exploitation Act), in an operation that resulted in 93% of all deposits being the direct result of scams. The District further asserts that the median victim age was 71 years old, with a median loss of $8,000.
Background
In a landmark suit, the District alleges that BTMs, which are meant to allow people to buy cryptocurrency with cash and easily transfer it to a digital wallet, instead serve as a conduit for fraud and abuse.
According to the District, in a typical BTM scam, foreign fraudsters contact victims posing as representatives of trusted institutions such as banks, law enforcement agencies, or technology companies, and falsely claim that the victim’s finances are at risk. The scammers then convince victims to withdraw cash from their traditional institutions and into a BTM to protect their money or even to cooperate with an official investigation.
Upon receiving the directive, victims will insert their cash into a BTM, seven of which are located in the District, and direct the cash to a Bitcoin wallet provided by the scammer. Once the money has been deposited into the scammer’s wallet, the transaction is irreversible.
In a Monday press release, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb provided, “Athena’s bitcoin machines have become a tool for criminals intent on exploiting elderly and vulnerable District residents … Athena knows that its machines are being used primarily by scammers yet chooses to look the other way so that it can continue to pocket sizable hidden transaction fees. Today we’re suing to get District residents their hard-earned money back and put a stop to this illegal, predatory conduct before it harms anyone else.”
The District further alleges that Athena has intentionally profited by imposing excessive and undisclosed fees of up to 26% of each transaction. The suit provides that Athena allows the D.C. elderly to deposit very large amounts of cash into wallets that Athena knows have already been used by other scam victims.
What’s Next?
While the lawsuit targets Athena, it also takes aim at the broader BTM industry. According to the suit, the FTC recently reported that fraud losses involving BTMs increased nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023, and reached $66 million in the first half of 2024. The FBI’s 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report shared losses exceeding $189 million in 2023. The district clearly does not believe BTM operators are neutral observers – but actively enable fraud.
BTMs have been under the legislative microscope of late, as more and more states pass legislation regulating the burgeoning industry. New bills have been approved in Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Vermont. In May, Arizona enacted legislation establishing daily transaction limits and requiring crypto ATM operators to provide customers with specific disclosures and warnings. This is all in the context of broader crypto regulation across the board.
Whether the District’s arguments against Athena actually stick for merely providing an ATM service remains to be seen. Regardless of the outcome of this specific suit, however, states and regulators appear to be taking this issue seriously. If the numbers are to be believed, it stands to reason that more lawsuits—and much more regulation—will follow.
