Albuquerque has prohibited cryptocurrency cash machines and cashier-assisted virtual currency transactions, with a separate deadline of 5 December for removing existing machines. The New Mexico city's Planning Department said the prohibition took effect on 21 October. The removal period does not allow operators to keep processing transactions until December.
The rule also reaches businesses and property holders that permit the prohibited services on their premises. It is not a general ban on cryptocurrency ownership or online transfers. For residents and retailers, that distinction separates the physical services the city has closed from activities that the ordinance expressly leaves outside its restrictions.
The City Council approved ordinance O-26-49 on 9 September. Its legislative record identifies the enacted measure as O-2026-045 and lists 21 October as its effective date. The Planning Department's announcement on that date sets out the current shutdown and removal requirements.
Removal time is not an operating extension
Section 13-22-4 requires existing virtual currency ATMs to stop operating immediately when the ordinance takes effect. Physical removal must follow within 45 days. The city's implementation notice gives 5 December as the removal deadline, making shutdown and removal separate obligations rather than a single grace period for continued business.
The ordinance's definition of an ATM is broader than a machine that accepts cash to buy bitcoin. It covers publicly accessible self-service devices that enable people to buy, sell, exchange or transfer virtual currency. Payment can involve cards, electronic payments or other value, so the restriction is not confined to cash-fed machines.
Cashier-assisted transactions are covered separately. The definition concerns payment collected in person by a cashier, retailer or other intermediary acting for a virtual currency provider. A transaction can fall within that definition even when it starts through a mobile application, website or point-of-sale system.
That provision prevents the rule from being understood as a restriction solely on unattended equipment. Removing a kiosk does not by itself make a cashier-facilitated transaction permissible. The operative prohibition separately covers conducting, facilitating, hosting, permitting or offering that kind of transaction within the city.
Hosts and operators have distinct responsibilities
The law addresses both operators and hosts. Its operator definition includes entities that own, control, manage, supply or operate a machine. A host is a person or entity controlling or permitting the use of the physical location where a machine is installed or available to the public.
Property owners, landlords, tenants and retailers cannot permit the prohibited activity on premises they own, lease, occupy or control. The ordinance expressly says its prohibition applies even when a third party owns or maintains the machine. Hosting arrangements therefore do not remove a location from the rule's scope.
The restrictions also apply whether a transaction is custodial or non-custodial, and whether it is completed on site or remotely. The text includes stablecoins alongside other digital assets. These provisions define the local rule's reach without making the legal treatment depend on a particular token or the operator's custody model.
What remains permitted
Section 13-22-5 preserves lawful virtual currency ownership, possession and mining, as well as software development and blockchain activities. It also leaves private transfers and internet-based platforms outside the prohibition where they do not involve a prohibited ATM or cashier-facilitated transaction within Albuquerque.
The distinction is between the defined physical services and other lawful activity, not a citywide prohibition on holding digital assets. The permission for private transfers is conditional on their not involving the prohibited local services. That makes the method of carrying out a transaction relevant to the boundary drawn by the ordinance, alongside whether it takes place within the city.
Enforcement can reach both the operator and the host. Each prohibited machine can constitute a separate violation, and each day of a violation can count as a separate offence. The ordinance refers penalties to the city's general penalty provision rather than setting a standalone monetary amount in this section.
Business-licence revocation is possible but remains subject to the procedural safeguards of the Business License Ordinance. The city may also seek a court injunction to enforce the measure and compel removal. These are authorised enforcement routes, not evidence that a particular business has already been fined or had its licence revoked.
For related regulatory coverage, read about Spain's cryptocurrency ATM identity-check requirements and FINRA's rule on outside crypto activities.
