Washington

Washington’s second-biggest city, Spokane, bans crypto ATMs

Published

8 months ago

June 18, 2025

Washington’s second-biggest city, Spokane, bans crypto ATMs

Spokane, the second-largest city in the US state of Washington, has banned crypto ATMs to fight rising scam activity targeting the city’s residents.

Spokane City Council said on Monday that it became the first city in Washington to ban cryptocurrency ATMs following a unanimous vote.

The measure was proposed by Council member Paul Dillon, who helped to put forward the ban, said that crypto ATMs “have become a preferred tool for scammers looking to defraud unsuspecting victims,” and the ban would “protect vulnerable Spokane residents from scams involving virtual currency kiosks.”

Dillon told local newspaper The Spokesman-Review that the measure “will ban future ones, as well as remove existing kiosks. We see a lot located in poor neighborhoods, convenience stores, grocery stores.”

According to the ordinance, the city of Spokane has seen a “significant increase in scams arising from the use of cryptocurrency kiosks, and there has been a steady increase in victims losing thousands of dollars.”

The edict added that it provides a tool “to protect consumers from those individuals who rely primarily on virtual currency to defraud others.”

Ordinance on crypto kiosk prohibition. Source: Spokane City Council

Monitoring the impact

Crypto ATM operators have 60 days to remove dozens of kiosks citywide or face civil infractions and business license revocation.

On Tuesday, the Spokane City Council said it will track progress and report on whether the ordinance has a measurable impact on the frequency of reported crimes involving crypto kiosks.

Hotbed for scammers

Police detective Tim Schwering reportedly told the council that he’s seen a number of cases where money fed into these kiosks “will end up in places like China, North Korea, Russia.”

Australia rolls out new crypto ATM rules as feds flag rising scams

He said criminals impersonate law enforcement or tax officials, telling victims to buy crypto at the ATMs to protect their money or avoid jail time.

“They’re scamming people, saying that they need to move their money into cryptocurrency in order to protect it,” Schwering said, according to The Spokesman-Review. “By the time the money is into the cryptocurrency, it’s already too late.”

Crypto kiosk scams surge

The FBI reported in April that there were almost 11,000 complaints and over $246 million in losses associated with crypto ATM scams in 2024, a 31% increase from 2023.

Scammers have also been targeting the elderly, with two-thirds of the victims of crypto kiosk fraud and scams being over 60, it noted.

*Crypto ATM losses in 2024. Source:* *FBI*

Magazine: Arthur Hayes doesn’t care when his Bitcoin predictions are totally wrong

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Washington

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.

The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.

Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.

Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.

Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.

Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).

The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.

The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.

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Washington

Washington state board awards Yakima $985,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

Published

2 days ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington state board awards Yakima 5,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.

The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.

The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.

The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.

The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.

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Washington

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Published

2 days ago

February 25, 2026

Press Room

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.

Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.

That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.

And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.

“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”

The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.

But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.

He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”

Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.

At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.

Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.

It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.

So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?

“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”

“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”

“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”

Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.

That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.

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