Iowa (IA): Bitcoin and virtual-currency law
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Research, not advice. Part of the Bitcoin research archive (October 2026). Claims labelled unverified, contested or fringe are reported, not endorsed; statuses of bills and rules are as of the date checked. Government, court and patent records are public domain; the research notes are CC BY 4.0.
Iowa (IA): Bitcoin and virtual-currency law
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | US state: Iowa |
| Date checked | 2026-10-09 |
| Main regulators | Iowa Division of Banking (IDOB) for money transmission and kiosk licensing; Attorney General for the kiosk consumer law |
| Money-transmitter law | Iowa Code ch. 533C. Iowa was a Uniform Money Services Act state. Since 2023 the chapter is the "Iowa Uniform Money Transmission Modernization Act" (CSBS: Full MTMA, effective 2023-04-10, Virtual Currency Title: No; CSBS) |
| UMSA? / URVCBA? | UMSA: yes, historically, now modernized as the "Iowa Uniform MTMA". URVCBA: no. |
| Crypto ATM / kiosk law | Yes. SF 449 (2025), Iowa Code § 533C.1004, signed 2025-05-19, consumer provisions effective 2025-07-01: $1,000 per day; $10,000 in a new consumer's first 30 days; fees capped at the greater of $5 or 15%; refunds; operators must hold a money-transmission licence. Amended by SF 2296 (2026), signed 2026-05-06, which modified civil penalties. |
Summary
Iowa's Attorney General led the national crackdown on crypto kiosks:
- February 2025: AG Brenna Bird sued Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. Her office alleged that Iowans sent more than $20M through their machines in under three years, mostly to scammers, and that the companies took 23% and 21% cuts.
- 2025 legislation: SF 449, signed 2025-05-19, imposed the kiosk limits, fee cap and refund rights above, and requires kiosk operators to hold a 533C money-transmission licence.
- 2026 legislation: SF 2296 amended the kiosk law's civil penalties.
A "bitcoin and precious metals" public-investment bill (HF 246, the "Inflation Protection Act") stalled in 2025.
1. Money-transmitter licensing and virtual currency
- Iowa Code ch. 533C, formerly the Uniform Money Services Act, now the Iowa Uniform MTMA (2023).
- Kiosks: the IDOB says SF 449 "Requires all people engaging in digital financial asset transactions [at kiosks] to maintain a license to engage in the business of money transmission under Iowa Code section 533C.301." Operators must also report kiosk locations to the IDOB, which publishes them (IDOB guidance, 2025-07-01, saved).
- Non-kiosk crypto business: we did not find the IDOB's current position on whether pure virtual-currency transmission (for example an exchange) needs a 533C licence (gap; the Iowa legislature's code site was unreachable on 2026-10-09).
2. Virtual-currency-specific statutes and guidance
| Item | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| SF 449 (2025), Iowa Code § 533C.1004 (kiosks) | Signed 2025-05-19; effective on enactment (IDOB); consumer provisions in force 2025-07-01 (AG) | IDOB guidance (saved); AG FAQ (saved) |
| SF 2296 (2026): "A bill for an act relating to digital financial kiosks, modifying civil penalties, and including effective date and applicability provisions" | Signed 2026-05-06 | Governor's release, 2026-05-06 |
| IDOB guidance "Licensing of Virtual Currency Kiosks Under SF 449" | 2025-07-01 | saved |
3. Crypto ATM / kiosk law
Iowa Code § 533C.1004 ("formerly known as SF 449"), effective 2025-07-01 (AG FAQ, saved):
- Daily limit: "Operators may not accept or dispense more than $1,000 per consumer per calendar day."
- New consumers: a person stays a "new consumer" for 30 days after the first transaction with a given operator, with an aggregate cap of $10,000 in that period.
- Fee cap: "Charges may not exceed the greater of $5 or 15 percent of the U.S. currency equivalent involved in the transaction."
- Disclosures, receipts and warnings: required before and after each transaction.
- Refunds: a full refund if the consumer was fraudulently induced, reports to the operator and a government or law-enforcement agency within 90 calendar days of the last new-consumer transaction, and provides proof such as a police report or sworn declaration. Existing consumers also have a refund route with similar conditions; see the FAQ.
- Operator duties:
- Use analytics tools to detect fraud.
- Keep a dedicated law-enforcement contact.
- Run live toll-free customer service Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Make sure third parties using the kiosk comply with the law.
- Report kiosk locations to the IDOB.
- Enforcement: the AG may seek civil penalties "up to $10,000 per violation", per the FAQ. SF 2296 (2026) modified the civil-penalty provisions (new amounts not retrieved).
- Licensing: a 533C licence is required (IDOB).
- Background: SF 2296 "requir[es] crypto-ATM operators to hold money-transmission licenses, extending a 2025 law" according to Digital Money Times (2026-09-19 opinion). The IDOB already read SF 449 that way in 2025, so treat the 2026 description as partly unverified.
4. Tax treatment
No Iowa Department of Revenue crypto guidance was retrieved (gap). HF 246 (2025) would have dealt with paying state taxes and fees in digital assets, among other things; it was not enacted.
5. Notable enforcement
| Date | Action | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-02-26 | State of Iowa ex rel. Bird v. Lux Vending, LLC (d/b/a Bitcoin Depot) and Bitcoin Depot Operating, LLC and State of Iowa ex rel. Bird v. GPD Holdings (CoinFlip), Polk County District Court, filed under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The AG's 2023 investigation subpoenaed 14 crypto ATM companies. The AG alleges more than $20M sent by Iowans through the two companies' kiosks in under three years, mostly by people over 60, and fee cuts of 23% (Bitcoin Depot) and 21% (CoinFlip). | AG release (saved); redacted petitions saved in full |
| 2025 (AARP) | AG Bird told AARP her investigation found "at least 95 percent of transactions at their machines were fraudulent". She said the 2025 statute is "a strong first step" but does not apply to her lawsuits, which rely on the older Consumer Fraud Act. | AARP |
| May 2026 | Bitcoin Depot filed Chapter 11 (S.D. Tex.) while facing the Iowa and Massachusetts AG suits. How this affects the Iowa case was not checked (gap). | Gizmodo |
6. Bills, 91st General Assembly (2025–2026)
| Bill | Subject | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SF 449 (2025) | Digital financial asset transaction kiosks | Signed 2025-05-19 |
| SF 2296 (2026) | Digital financial kiosks; civil penalties | Signed 2026-05-06 |
| HF 246 (2025) | "Inflation Protection Act": invest public money in digital assets and precious metals | House subcommittee recommended passage 2025-02-26; not enacted (CryptoSlate profile) |
| HF 2391 / SF 2104 (2026) | Water-usage reporting for large water users (tagged by trackers because of data centers and mining) | Referred; not crypto-specific |
Pending: none. The 91st General Assembly's regular sessions are over; a special session in October 2026 dealt with steel-mill incentives.
7. Contested and fringe claims
- "95% fraudulent." AG Bird's figure (at least 95% of transactions fraudulent) and DC AG Schwalb's 93% for Athena Bitcoin are allegations in litigation. The operators dispute them. Hawaii's legislature later cited "as high as ninety per cent".
- Industry position. CoinFlip and Bitcoin Depot argue they provide warnings, limits and refunds, and that scammers, not operators, are responsible (operators' statements in the Missouri and Delaware coverage).
Saved sources (sources/states/ia/)
See sources/states/ia/INDEX.md.
Gaps
- legis.iowa.gov did not respond on 2026-10-09 (empty replies). The following were therefore not retrieved:
- Iowa Code § 533C.1004 and § 533C.102;
- the SF 449 and SF 2296 texts and their effective-date sections;
- HF 246's final status.
- IDOB's position on non-kiosk virtual-currency licensing.
- The status of the AG lawsuits after Bitcoin Depot's bankruptcy.