New Zealand has announced a new set of rules to curb growing money laundering and financial crimes, one of the biggest changes included the restriction on cryptocurrency ATMs.
These machines allow users to buy and sell different types of crypto tokens and coins, and can also use these ATMs to move money from one place to another without any prior notification or alert to centralized authorities.
With a $5,000 cap on international cash transfers along with banning crypto ATMs, the government of New Zealand has also imposed a limit on how much money one can send overseas.
It is said that changes will help the nation to reduce the total amount sent out of the nation without proper checks.
On July 09, 2025, Nicole McKee, the Associate Justice Minister, said, “ This Government is serious about targeting criminals, not tying up legitimate businesses in unnecessary red tape.”
While concluding, Mrs. Nicole said, “ We want New Zealand to be one of the easiest places in the world to do legitimate business and one of the hardest for criminals to hide. By cutting unnecessary red tape, we’re giving honest businesses room to grow, while sharpening our focus on serious threats.”
How big is the crypto ATM of New Zealand?
As per the available estimates, the crypto ATM market of New Zealand is relatively small, but has been growing with a significant concentration in major cities like Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga, and Hamilton.
The crypto ATM sector in New Zealand was described as being in its infancy, with growth limited by factors such as banking challenges, low demand in certain periods, and competition from alternative methods like crypto exchange and peer-to-peer platforms.
New Zealand’s nationwide ban on crypto ATMs as part of money laundering and anti-counter terrorism financing reforms, alongside a $5,000 cap on international cash transfers, this ban will affect around 221 crypto ATMs and the wider crypto market.
Crypto market price updates
According to the data from CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency market capitalization is $3.37 trillion, with a slight surge of 0.78% and the trading volume is $99.61 billion.
At the same time, crypto fear and greed 52 indicates, Bitcoin is priced at $108,600 and its market capitalization is $2.16 trillion, and its trading volume is $42.43 billion.
In the past 24 hours, the intraday gainers list has been topped by Cronos, followed by Floki Inu, SPX6900, Raydium, Curve, Stellar, and Pyth Network.
However, the losers of the list are Bonk, Pudgy Penguins, Fartcoin, Story, Maple Finance, Tether Gold, Pax Gold, Sonic, and Kaia.
