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Crypto ATM Scams in Arizona Face Incoming Crackdown

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Arizona is rolling out a new law aimed at cutting down scams that use crypto kiosks. According to reports, state officials say residents lost about $177 million to schemes tied to crypto ATMs.

There are roughly 600 of those machines across the state, and lawmakers moved quickly after steep losses and repeated complaints from victims, many of them older adults.

New Limits And Refund Rules

Under the new rules, operators must put limits and safety checks on the kiosks. Based on reports, new customers will be capped at $2,000 per day.

Existing users can move up to $10,500 per day. Operators must show clear warnings on the screen and get users to acknowledge them before the cash is turned into crypto.

If a new user was tricked into using a kiosk, the operator must issue a full refund, including fees, if the fraud is reported within 30 days. Receipts are required for every transaction.

Arizona cracks down on crypto ATM scams that cost residents $177 million https://t.co/nx3vHKRB5G

— Tucson Sentinel (@TucsonSentinel) September 27, 2025

How Scams Work And Who Is Targeted

Scammers commonly impersonate banks, government offices or family members. They call or message victims and tell them to rush to a kiosk and pay cash into a crypto wallet to “resolve” a fake emergency.

Once the cash is sent, it can be very hard to get back. Reports have disclosed that older adults are hit hardest and that individual losses can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Lawmakers said those patterns made clear why stricter rules were needed.

Total crypto market cap currently at $3.73 trillion. Chart: TradingView

Technology And Enforcement Tools

The law also encourages the use of anti-fraud tools, including blockchain analytics software that can flag suspicious wallet activity. Operators will be expected to adopt systems that detect red flags before money moves out.

Enforcement falls to the state Attorney General’s office, which can investigate and impose penalties when operators fail to follow the rules. Authorities say monitoring will be key, and that cooperation from kiosk owners and payment firms will matter.

Enforcement Challenges Ahead

The law does not ban crypto ATMs. It regulates them. That means success will depend on how well the rules are enforced and whether operators actually comply.

Some consumer advocates have pushed for stricter curbs on high-value transactions. Questions remain about coverage for victims who lost money before the law took effect.

Reports suggest some law enforcement officials want wider powers to freeze suspect wallet addresses, but those steps bring technical and legal hurdles.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.





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Product Reviews

Martin Shkreli has to face claims of copying one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album

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Martin Shkreli, better known as Pharma Bro for his price-gouging antics with AIDS medication Daraprim, is going to have to defend against claims of misappropriating trade secrets with the unique Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Earlier this week, US District Court Judge Pamela Chen wrote in a decision that Shkreli has to face a lawsuit that accuses him of improperly saving copies and playing the one-of-a-kind album for followers, which reduced its value and exclusivity.

The lawsuit was filed by PleasrDAO — which, according to its own website, is a collective of people involved with cryptocurrency, NFTs and digital art. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin has a strange ownership history, starting with Shkreli purchasing the one-of-one studio album in 2015 for $2 million. After a fraud conviction, Shkreli had to forfeit his assets, including the album, leading to PleasrDAO acquiring it in a government auction for $4 million.

On top of the album’s highly exclusive nature, it has a condition where it can’t be “commercially exploited for 88 years” by any subsequent owners. The collective’s argument stems from claims that Shkreli admitted in livestreams that he made copies of the album and played it for his followers, even allegedly posting “LOL i have the mp3s you moron” in response to a member of PleasrDAO posting a photo of the album. If PleasrDAO wins the case, Shkreli will have to give up any copies of the album, as well as provide info on all copies, who they were distributed to and what profits he made from it.



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MindsEye's lead actor talks being the face of a game that flops hard
Game Updates

MindsEye’s lead actor talks being the face of a game that flops hard

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From an outside perspective, I think it was probably fairly obvious that MindsEye was never going to do very well. There was barely any game to show off, so they mostly didn’t. What they did show didn’t look very good either, and when it came out, it was a glitchy mess. This all put 300 staff members at risk of being laid off, the full extent of which still being not particularly clear. And in a recent interview, the game’s lead actor Alex Hernandez has shared his own experience of being the face of the game (spoiler alert: it’s not great).


Speaking on the FRVR Podcast, Hernandez spoke of what it was like having his face attached to such a mess of a game, quite plainly saying, “It’s hard. I’m not gonna lie about that. It’s a difficult thing to spend two-and-a-half years on a project that you’re really proud of and you’re proud of your contribution to it… for the 300 or so employees at Build A Rocket Boy, you’re like ‘I hope this goes really well.’ I want them all to get raises and have a giant party and have this be the job that launches their career.”


Perhaps the more upsetting thing to hear Hernandez say was how his name will “now be associated with something that many people have regarded as pretty f*****g bad. And as an artist, as a man, as a gamer, that hurts, it’s wildly painful.” This is an aspect of an increased use of motion and facial capture we’re not really thinking of.


My best guess is that actors’ real faces are being used more and more to help get better and more believable in-game performances (those who know better feel free to sound off in the comments). The trade-off here is that you are then thrusting some of these actors into the spotlight, one which features a community that, as many of us know, isn’t always the kindest, and I am putting that as politely as possible.


Personally, I always prefer a tightly designed character over motion capture anyway – even if I did enjoy getting a first-person perspective of Mads Mikkelsen in Death Stranding – but perhaps there’s yet another lesson to be learned here in the need for safeguards to be put in place for the people that are being put at the front of high profile games.



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Florida woman punches alligator in the face to save her 4-month-old Shih Tzu

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A Florida woman is recovering after fending off a five-foot alligator with her fists to save her puppy from being dragged into a creek.

Land O’ Lakes resident Danie Wright was walking her 4-month-old Shih Tzu, Dax, near a stagnant creek behind her home when the gator attacked. The creek, covered in watermoss, gave the alligator sufficient cover to initiate his attack.

“I turned and looked, and an alligator had him,” Wright explained. “The alligator’s front teeth were through the collar of my dog.”

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Florida woman gets bitten by gator after punching it to save dog

The gator began pulling Dax into the water, prompting Wright to fight back.

“I just punched him, punched and punched,” she told WTSP-TV. “I punched him in the eye enough that he kind of let go, he unclamped a little, and I pulled off, but his teeth dragged down my arm.”

Wright managed to flip the reptile onto its back, freeing Dax and retreating inside. She suffered bite wounds during the struggle but is now recovering.

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“I freaking fought an alligator and won,” she beamed.

Video captured by Wright shows the alligator lingering behind her home after the attack. Florida Fish and Wildlife trappers later removed it from the property.

The Florida woman is using this wild story to encourage others to be cautious in gator territory. “Just be careful with your dogs. These alligators are no joke. I mean, 15 feet, he came out to get him, and I didn’t see him.”

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She further advised dog owners to be more alert when walking them near water. “Leave your phone at home,” she urged.

This isn’t the first time someone has had to face off with a gator. Back in 2023, TikToker Dave Franks went viral after posting a video where a zoo visitor jumped into an enclosure and started wrestling an alligator to help a handler trapped by the animal.

Not every gator is vicious, however. Earlier in September, a Pennsylvania man made headlines after being denied entry to a Walmart store for bringing his five-foot emotional support alligator inside a shopping cart.

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Bullish patterns in Trump Coin face whale-sized risks
NFT Gaming

Bullish patterns in Trump Coin face whale-sized risks

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Trump Coin faces serious headwinds that could limit its upside in the near term. Here’s the breakdown.

Summary

  • Trump meme coin price has formed numerous bullish chart patterns. 
  • The risk is that whale investors continue to dump their tokens.
  • Another risk is that the supply of TRUMP on exchanges is rising. 

Trump Coin bulls beware

The Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin price has remained in a tight range in the past few months. On the positive side, it has formed a double-bottom pattern at $8 and a neckline at $11.90. This pattern often leads to a strong bullish breakout as it signals that bears are afraid of shorting it below that price.

Trump Coin price has also formed a falling wedge pattern whose two lines are about to converge. This pattern typically leads to more gains over time. Most importantly, the Relative Strength Index and the MACD indicators have formed a bullish divergence pattern.

Therefore, technicals suggest that the Trump meme coin will rebound in the near term. If this happens, the next important level to watch will be the double-bottom neckline at $11.90. 

Trump Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news

Whale dumping could spoil the momentum

The strong technicals, however, may not be enough to boost the Trump Coin price amid weak fundamentals. First, Nansen data shows that whale investors have been selling the tokens in the past few months. These investors now hold 4.96 million coins, down from the August high of 5.87 million. 

Second, the number of Trump coins on exchanges has continued to rise in the past few months. There are now 128.4 million coins in exchanges, mostly in Binance, Robinhood, and OKX. The supply has increased from the June low of 118 million. Soaring exchange outflows is risky because it sends a signal that many investors are selling their tokens. 

The other risk is that there is an increased supply of the token, with most of them going to the Trump family. There are 199 million TRUMP tokens in circulation, meaning that 800 million more will be unlocked in the next few years. Token unlocks often lead to lower prices by increasing the supply.

How Trump Coin became a thing

The Official Trump meme coin was launched on Jan. 17, just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th U.S. president. The coin debuted on the Solana blockchain, with 200 million tokens released to the public in an initial coin offering (ICO) and the remaining 800 million held by Trump-affiliated entities, CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC.

This strategic timing leveraged the heightened media attention surrounding the inauguration, contributing to the coin’s rapid rise in value.

Since then, Trump’s meme coin has generated substantial profits, combining trading fees and the value of his personal holdings. Estimates from financial outlets such as the Financial Times and the New Yorker put his gains at around $350 million in March, rising to $385 million by August.

Overall, the Trump family has gained an estimated $5 billion from their holdings in a separate crypto venture called World Liberty Financial. The firm’s WLFI token began trading on Sept. 1. The family’s stake is sizable—but subject to the usual cryptocurrency volatility.

What critics say

Trump’s critics claim that the family’s WLFI venture and its Trump Coin venture operate like “pay-to-play” schemes. Key concerns include:

  • Pay-for-access dinner: In May, Trump hosted a Virginia golf club dinner for top $TRUMP investors, offering personal access in exchange for investment.
  • Foreign investment and policy influence: In May, an Abu Dhabi-backed fund used the WLFI stablecoin to invest $2 billion in Binance, while the Trump administration maintained a hands-off stance on crypto regulation, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.
  • Favored treatment for major investors: Regulators reportedly paused a fraud investigation into TRUMP investor Justin Sun shortly after his significant investments in Trump’s crypto ventures.



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GOG shares their thoughts on preservation in the face of payment processor crackdowns
Game Updates

GOG shares their thoughts on preservation in the face of payment processor crackdowns

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In general these days it’s never a good time to release a video game unless you’re Rockstar, but in recent months it’s been made even harder due to numerous payment processors cracking down on digital storefronts like Valve and Itch.io. There’s a host of reasons this is problematic, but one less spoken about how this is also an issue of preservation. GOG, another digital storefront, this one owned by The Witcher developer CD Projekt, is known for their preservation efforts, and in a recent interview they shared a bit of their thoughts in relation to these recent issues regarding payment processors.


When asked about GOG’s stance on what’s been happening with payment processors in recent months in an interview with Automaton, senior PR rep Piotr Gnyp had this to say: “At GOG, as a platform devoted to Good Old Games and video game preservation, we see it as a game preservation issue. Every year, many games are disappearing, for various reasons. Every game that disappears from distribution is potentially lost to game preservation efforts. It is particularly worrying when games are potentially vanishing due to external pressure.”


While possibly not quite as strong or confident an answer as I might like – after all, GOG has plenty of reasons to be wary of pissing off these same payment processors – there is something worth honing in on.


Steam and Itch.io are obviously not some kind of beautiful digital landscapes where games become hits after hits, both are much too saturated for that to happen. Plus, a majority of games on Steam are not DRM-free, meaning they require a connection to the storefront in question in order to be played. Most games on Itch and GOG are DRM-free, however.


The issue comes from the fact that, unfortunately, developers are forced into relying on third-party platforms to sell their games. It is incredibly hard to tell someone to come to your dedicated website to buy your game, and that only works insofar that you’ve found a payment processor to use that allows something like an adult game.


So what happens to these games when they have no place to call a home? How do we ensure that they continue to be available, when they might be hosted on the developer’s personal website, which in some cases few people might be aware of? It’s a difficult question to answer.


In this same interview, Gnyp notes that GOG is a “curated storefront,” continuing on to explain that this means “not every game submitted to us is accepted – we select titles based on quality, relevance, and alignment with our values and audience.” Again, that line about values feels like it could be a bit of a cop out, but the idea of curation is one worth exploring. It’s not a perfect solution, though it could be one way to at least keep some aspect of these unfairly shunned works alive. The question becomes how to do this, and right now, I’m still figuring it out, for myself at least.



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How a 2020 Rolex Collection Changed the Face of Watch Design
Gaming Gear

How a 2020 Rolex Collection Changed the Face of Watch Design

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As the company that either invented or popularized the dive watch, the GMT watch, the first water-resistant watch, the first automatic watches, and much more besides, you could hardly downplay Rolex’s influence on watchmaking history. But while its iconic sports watches, like the Submariner, Daytona and GMT-Master are endlessly imitated, Rolex is not seen as a trendsetter, preferring to ignore passing horological fashions. It does its own thing, iterating carefully and minimally on its age-old templates.

Five years ago, however, Rolex introduced a collection so avant-garde that is still influencing creative decisions across the entire watch industry, and it did so in one of its least-heralded models: the Oyster Perpetual. The idea was so simple that we’ve barely noticed it become the industry norm: Instead of slowly rolling out new dial colours one at a time over a period of years—which was standard watch world behavior until that point—Rolex launched a whole set of colored dials in a complementary palette all at once.

The 2020 multi-color Oyster Perpetual collection that started the wave of watch-world bright dials.

COURTESY OF ROLEX

They were bright, bold and almost childlike in their purity: coral red, green, turquoise, pink and yellow. Rolex-watchers immediately hailed them as a tribute to the so-called Stella dial Day-Date watches of the late 1970s and 1980s—equally bright and unexpected, and evocative of a louche, sybaritic age. But there was something more basic, more essential and, at least theoretically, more attainable about the Oyster Perpetual collection.

It sparked imitators left, right and center—and still does. At last week’s Geneva Watch Days 2025, Zenith’s collaboration with Swiss furniture-maker USM would qualify as a textbook example: a full set of bold, block-colour dials in otherwise traditional stainless steel sports watches.

Earlier this year, Oris’s Big Crown Pointer Date hit a similar note. In 2023, arch-rival Omega debuted a collection of Seamaster Aqua Terra models with similar hues to Rolex’s opening salvo; other mid-level brands including Breitling and TAG Heuer have all created multi-colored families of stainless steel, time-only round watches in a similar mold.



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Crypto Users Face Danger From New Modstealer Malware
GameFi Guides

Crypto Users Face Danger from New ModStealer Malware

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While the crypto industry is going through various security breaches, ModStealer, a new infostealer malware, is targeting crypto users on macOS, Windows, and Linux systems. Experts note that this malware can steal information on crypto wallets and access credentials of users. 

According to information from 9to5mac, Apple-focused security company Mosyle found the malware, which even major antivirus engines failed to catch for almost a month after it was uploaded to VirusTotal, an online service that checks files for harmful content.

The report cites that the ModStealer is being delivered to victims through malicious job postings, specifically targeting developers. Using heavily obfuscated JavaScript files written with NodeJS, the malware remains completely undetectable by signature-based defenses. 

“The malware’s main goal is data exfiltration, with a particular focus on cryptocurrency wallets, credential files, configuration details, and certificates,” Mosyle said. The security researchers also found targeting logic for different wallets, such as extensions for Safari and Chromium-based browsers. 

Malware’s perplexing infrastructure

The security company said that the malware stays on macOS by using the system to register as a background agent. While its server seems hosted in Finland, it is believed that the infrastructure is routed through Germany to hide where the operators are from.

“For security professionals, developers, and end users alike, this serves as a stark reminder that signature-based protections alone are not enough. Continuous monitoring, behavior-based defenses, and awareness of emerging threats are essential to stay ahead of adversaries,” Mosyle warns.

On macOS, the malware stays on a victim’s Mac for a long time and is hard to find by using Apple’s own launchctl tool to install itself as a LaunchAgent. From there, it watches what people do and sends sensitive data to a server far away.

Mosyle thinks that the ModStealer fits the description of Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS). This is where people who make malware make and sell harmful packages to affiliates. This kind of business model has become more and more popular among cybercriminal gangs, especially when it comes to spreading infostealers. 

Rise in Crypto Related Hacks 

Crypto hacks have been on the rise for the past few months. PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, says that the hackers stole over $142 million in 17 attacks last month. The amount is 27.2% higher than that of $111.6 million in June 2025.

Also Read: Radiant Hacker Moves $26.7 Million in Stolen Funds to Ethereum



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GameFi Guides

AI Giants Face FTC Inquiry Into Chatbot Safety and Child Protections

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In brief

  • The FTC has issued orders to seven companies requiring detailed disclosure of safety protocols and monetization strategies within 45 days.
  • The probe comes amid growing concerns about AI chatbots’ impact on children, with safety advocates calling for stronger protections.
  • Companies must reveal user data handling by age group and safeguards preventing inappropriate interactions with minors.

The Federal Trade Commission issued compulsory orders Thursday to seven major technology companies, demanding detailed information about how their artificial intelligence chatbots protect children and teenagers from potential harm.

The investigation targets OpenAI, Alphabet, Meta, xAI, Snap, Character Technologies, and Instagram, requiring them to disclose within 45 days how they monetize user engagement, develop AI characters, and safeguard minors from dangerous content.

Recent research by advocacy groups documented 669 harmful interactions with children in just 50 hours of testing, including bots proposing sexual livestreaming, drug use, and romantic relationships to users aged between 12 and 15.

“Protecting kids online is a top priority for the Trump-Vance FTC, and so is fostering innovation in critical sectors of our economy,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

The filing requires companies to provide monthly data on user engagement, revenue, and safety incidents, broken down by age groups—Children (under 13), Teens (13–17), Minors (under 18), Young Adults (18–24), and users 25 and older.

The FTC says that the information will help the Commission study “how companies offering artificial intelligence companions monetize user engagement; impose and enforce age-based restrictions; process user inputs; generate outputs; measure, test, and monitor for negative impacts before and after deployment; develop and approve characters, whether company- or user-created.”

Building AI guardrails

“It’s a positive step, but the problem is bigger than just putting some guardrails,” Taranjeet Singh, Head of AI at SearchUnify, told Decrypt.

The first approach, he said, is to build guardrails at the prompt or post-generation stage “to make sure nothing inappropriate is being served to children,” though “as the context grows, the AI becomes prone to not following instructions and slipping into grey areas where they otherwise shouldn’t.”

“The second way is to address it in LLM training; if models are aligned with values during data curation, they’re more likely to avoid harmful conversations,” Singh added.

Even moderated systems, he noted, can “play a bigger role in society,” with education as a prime case where AI could “improve learning and cut costs.”



Safety concerns around AI interactions with users have been highlighted by several cases, including a wrongful death lawsuit brought against Character.AI after 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III died by suicide in February 2024 following an obsessive relationship with an AI bot.

Following the lawsuit, Character.AI “improved detection, response and intervention related to user inputs that violate our Terms or Community Guidelines,” as well as a time-spent notification, a company spokesperson told Decrypt at the time.

Last month, the National Association of Attorneys General sent letters to 13 AI companies demanding stronger child protections.

The group warned that “exposing children to sexualized content is indefensible” and that “conduct that would be unlawful—or even criminal—if done by humans is not excusable simply because it is done by a machine.”

Decrypt has contacted all seven companies named in the FTC order for additional comment and will update this story if they respond.

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Crypto Trends

Bitcoin, Ether, XRP Face September Test After Biggest Whale Distribution in Years

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Bitcoin BTC$112,647.84 held just under $112,000 on Monday as traders weighed the largest whale sell-off in more than two years against signs of long-term accumulation and resilient altcoin performance.

On-chain trackers at CryptoQuant have flagged over 100,000 BTC — worth approximately $12.7 billion — as exiting major wallets in the past 30 days. Analyst caueconomy called it “the largest coin distribution this year,” noting that whale reserves fell by 114,920 BTC, pushing spot prices briefly below $108,000 last week.

The scale mirrors July 2022, when whales last trimmed positions this aggressively.

“The portfolios of major players are still shrinking, which may continue to pressure Bitcoin in the coming weeks,” the analyst said. The sales have coincided with softer ETF inflows and thinner volumes, leaving the market leaning on macro catalysts.

The longer-term picture is more constructive. Bitcoin is down only 13% from its mid-August all-time high, far shallower than historic pullbacks. CryptoQuant analyst Dave the Wave said the one-year moving average, which sat at $52,000 a year ago, has now risen to $94,000 and will likely break through $100,000 in October — indicative of a structural uptrend.

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget, said supply metrics back that view: “Bitcoin’s illiquid supply has climbed to a record 14.3 million BTC, with more than 70% of coins in wallets with little spending history. Confidence in long-term value remains evident.”

Lee sees price stabilizing and regaining momentum in a $105,000–$118,000 range, supported by ETF flows and bullish MACD signals.

Ethereum traded around $4,307, with Lee projecting a $4,100–$4,600 band if ETF demand holds. He added that upcoming network upgrades and DeFi catalysts could drive independent gains.

Meanwhile, market breadth showed modest improvement. XRP gained 2.3% to $2.96, Solana’s SOL rose 3.2% to $214, and dogecoin extended a 10.5% weekly climb to $0.236. Cardano’s ADA also strengthened, adding 6% over the past seven days to $0.865.

Still, sentiment remains muted. FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich noted that total crypto market capitalization rose 2.5% last week to $3.85 trillion but remains below its 50-day average.

“This is a worrying indicator of underlying risk appetite,” he said in an email to CoinDesk. The sentiment index dipped into fear at 44 over the weekend before recovering to 51 on Monday, suggesting traders are in wait-and-see mode.

September’s seasonal weakness adds another layer of caution even as macro pressures continue to loom.

Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, said in a Telegram message that U.S. inflation prints due midweek will steer the next move. “Higher-than-expected numbers would cause Bitcoin and Ethereum to decline, while lower numbers could cause a rally,” Mei said.



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