North Dakota
North Dakota bill aiming to regulate crypto kiosks, prevent fraud gets mixed reactions
BISMARCK — A bill in the North Dakota House of Representatives aims to regulate cryptocurrency kiosks by limiting deposits, capping fees and requiring fraud detection measures in response to rising concerns over financial scams.
House Bill 1447
would regulate virtual currency kiosks, also known as cryptocurrency kiosks or crypto ATMs. The proposal would license cryptocurrency kiosk operators in North Dakota, limit daily deposits to $1,000, cap fees at 3%, require blockchain analytics to detect suspicious activity and mandate refunds for new customers within 30 days.
Simply put, crypto kiosks allow people to insert cash, turn it into cryptocurrency and deposit it into an electronic wallet. It also allows anyone with an electronic wallet to turn cryptocurrency into cash and withdraw it.
More than $6 million was stolen through cryptocurrency fraud in North Dakota in 2023, and the FBI received over 5,500 complaints involving crypto kiosks nationally in 2023, according to AARP.
Rep. Steve Swiontek, R-Fargo, said scammers are directing people to withdraw money from their bank accounts and put it into the crypto ATMs, where it is deposited directly into the electronic wallets of the scammers.
Contributed / Stacy Kennedy, Gate City Bank
Swiontek chairs the board of Gate City Bank and has worked in banking for over 40 years.
He told a story about a person in North Dakota who received a message from a fraudster posing as a federal employee saying they would purchase child sexual abuse material using the person’s identity, open offshore accounts in the person’s name and that their family would be in danger if they did not comply with the fraudster’s directives. The person took out nearly $25,000 and gave it to the fraudster using a crypto kiosk. The person almost gave the fraudster another $25,000, but after a conversation with a neighbor who worked in law enforcement, they found out they had been scammed.
A fraud investigator for First Western Bank, Jacob Rued, said another way fraudsters often work is to refer to the crypto ATMs as “federal safety lockers” and tell people they are scamming that their money is not safe in their bank and needs to be deposited in the “federal safety locker.”
“If you ever hear that term, or someone you love says that term to you, you and they are being scammed,” Rued said. “That term does not exist.”
Josh Askvig, state director of AARP North Dakota, said that elderly North Dakotans are especially vulnerable to these crypto scams.
Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, questioned the necessity of caps on daily transactions and fees because he believes it would unnecessarily burden a growing industry. He said there are legitimate reasons for people to use the kiosks because if there weren’t, there wouldn’t be successful, publicly traded companies based on them.
“I just don’t believe that there would be a publicly traded company that’s investing in something that’s 99% scams,” Koppelman said. “And that somehow that’s got across (past) all the regulators that deal with the publicly traded companies.”
Koppelman suggested the implementation of a cap on a user’s first five transactions to protect first-time users from scams without impacting those who regularly use the kiosks.
Rued said without the caps on daily transactions, the bill would be useless.
He shared a story about a person who experienced fraud in Minnesota when he took $50,000 out of his bank account, intending to put it all into the kiosk and give it to the scammer’s electronic wallet, but was stopped at depositing $2,000 into the kiosk by Minnesota’s regulations. After he was stopped, he realized he was being scammed and did not give the remaining $48,000 to the fraudster.
“Without that (cap), he would have lost all $50,000,” Rued said. “Now, could he report that to us the next day? Sure. But in all reality, the money is gone. If you know anything about the blockchain and crypto — I mean the whole essence and principle of it is, once it’s out there, the government can’t go get it. No one can exercise control over it.”
Rue noted he was in favor of the cap on fees, as well. The companies that operate the kiosks are “profiting off the losses of these victims,” he said.
Representatives of two companies that operate cryptocurrency kiosks said they were in support of licensing operators of kiosks but not caps on fees and daily transactions.
Director of Government Relations at Bitcoin Depot Ethan McClelland said the cap on transaction fees and daily transaction amounts would make operating in North Dakota unsustainable and drive responsible operators of crypto kiosks out of the state.
The transaction limits “are encouraging scammers to spread transactions around, and it’s hindering our efforts and law enforcement’s efforts to combat fraud,” McClelland said.
Rued disagreed.
“To be perfectly frank with you,” Rued said, “with no disrespect to them, it’s laughable to me that the transaction limit is going to increase the fraud or it’s going to make it more difficult to investigate. My opinion would be the exact opposite — it’s going to decrease fraud.”
Koppelman said the bill will be worked on in a committee before a recommendation is voted on.
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
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