Alaska’s new rules for Bitcoin ATMs are already on the books. Senate Bill 249 took effect on October 1st, 2026, and it caps kiosk users at $1,000 a day and $10,000 over any 30 day period, with fees limited to 10 percent of the transaction. Operators need a money transmission license and approval from the Division of Banking and Securities before putting a kiosk anywhere in the state, and they have to post scam warnings in English and Spanish.
The provision getting the most attention is the refund. A customer who gets scammed at a kiosk can get the full amount back by notifying the operator within 90 days of the last transaction or of discovering the fraud, whichever is later, and then backing it up with a police report or sworn statement within 120 days of contacting the operator. Operators also have to use blockchain analytics to block wallets tied to fraud, and a violation counts as a deceptive practice under Alaska’s consumer protection law. The state can even seize a noncompliant kiosk and take back the fees it collected.
The broader change comes on July 1st, 2027, when most of Senate Bill 86 kicks in. Alaska is replacing its 2007 money services law with the Money Transmission Modernization Act, the model law from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, and the new statute addresses virtual currency activity directly. Licensees will owe customers clear disclosures on fees and exchange rates, have to hold enough of each virtual currency to cover what customers are owed, and face penalties of up to $10,000 a day. Existing licensees can keep operating under their current license until they renew or until July 1st, 2028, whichever comes later.
Alaska joins Delaware and Oklahoma, which both moved on the model act this year. What makes Alaska different is that it handled kiosks in a separate law that is already in effect.