Key Takeaways
- Missouri AG Catherine Hanaway sued Coinflip on May 20, 2026, seeking up to $1,826,000 in civil penalties under the MMPA.
- Coinflip’s 140-plus Missouri BTMs charge fees up to 21.9%, with one 80-year-old veteran losing up to $200,000 in a single scam.
- The lawsuit seeks a court injunction halting Coinflip operations in Missouri until stronger fraud-prevention measures are in place.
Missouri Sues Coinflip for Hiding 21.9% Fees and Allegedly Enabling Crypto Scams Statewide
The suit was filed in the Circuit Court of Jasper County, Missouri’s 29th Judicial Circuit. It names Coinflip, which claims to operate the world’s largest network of cryptocurrency ATMs by transaction volume, with more than 5,500 bitcoin automated teller machines (ATMs) across the United States and several other countries.
As of late 2025, the company ran more than 140 kiosks in Missouri, placed in convenience stores, liquor stores, gas stations, and vape shops. Hanaway’s office launched a statewide investigation in December 2025, issuing Civil Investigative Demands to five crypto ATM operators, including Coinflip, to examine anti-fraud policies and fee disclosures. This lawsuit is the direct result of that investigation.
“Coinflip has become the getaway car for financial predators targeting Missouri residents,” Hanaway states in the filing. “While scammers take the bulk of the victims’ money, Coinflip takes a large cut from every transaction and has hidden just how large that cut really is.”
The complaint details three victim cases. An 80-year-old veteran lost between $180,000 and $200,000 between September 2025 and March 2026 to a scammer using the name “Selina Lee,” who directed him to deposit cash into Coinflip machines while posing as an investment advisor.
He sold his vehicle, drained investment accounts, and nearly lost his apartment. A second victim deposited $1,000 at a vape shop kiosk after a caller impersonating a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy told her she faced arrest warrants for missing jury duty. Coinflip refunded only $182.38 in fees. A third victim deposited $900 at a machine labeled “FDIC Police Monitored” after a similar fake warrant scam. She reportedly recovered nothing, the filing notes.
The lawsuit alleges Coinflip displayed only a $2.99 flat network fee on its machines while burying a separate transaction fee of up to 21.9% inside its terms of service. Under that structure, a Missouri resident depositing $100 in cash would receive roughly $75.76 worth of bitcoin. None of the three named victims recall any clear disclosure of the full fee amount.
Federal Trade Commission data cited in the complaint shows fraud losses at bitcoin ATMs increased nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023. In the first half of 2024 alone, reported losses topped $65 million. The median reported loss per transaction is $10,000. Reported losses by adults over 60 have risen more than twentyfold since 2020.
The complaint argues Coinflip had the tools to identify and stop fraudulent transactions but chose not to use them. The company has access to Elliptic blockchain analytics software capable of flagging suspicious wallet activity, and each kiosk is equipped with a remotely accessible video camera.
The suit alleges Coinflip’s internal data from 2021 showed 99.64% of transactions involved purchases rather than sales, a pattern consistent with scam-driven one-way deposits rather than legitimate crypto investing.
“Coinflip knows that its machines are routinely used to perpetrate devastating financial fraud,” Hanaway claimed.
The Missouri AG added:
“The company profits from every one of those transactions. That is not a business model Missouri will tolerate.”
Coinflip called the lawsuit “meritless” and described it as a “misguided attack” on a licensed operator. The company said it has advocated for stronger cryptocurrency kiosk regulations in Missouri and at the federal level, including 2025 Missouri legislation covering licensure and consumer protections, and said it plans to fight the suit. The regional news publication KMBC quoted Coinflip as saying:
“The Attorney General is wrongfully targeting the company that championed the law that protects Missourians from criminal scammers. Rather than waste taxpayer money pursuing a licensed and regulated company, the Attorney General’s office should investigate, catch and stop those criminals preying on Missourians across the financial services ecosystem. Coinflip will fight this lawsuit aggressively, and we look forward to demonstrating that these allegations are baseless.”
Similar actions have been brought in other states. Iowa previously sued Coinflip and other bitcoin ATM operators on comparable grounds. The Missouri case fits a pattern of state attorneys general using consumer protection statutes to target cryptocurrency kiosk companies as fraud vectors.
The state seeks civil penalties of up to $1,826,000, calculated at $1,000 per MMPA violation over five years, along with restitution for victims statewide and a court order suspending Coinflip’s Missouri operations until it implements effective fraud-prevention measures.
