What Minneapolis Residents Should Know About Minnesota Laws That Took Effect Aug. 1
Several Minnesota laws took effect Aug. 1, 2026, with practical implications for Minneapolis consumers, retailers and businesses. The changes include a statewide prohibition on virtual-currency kiosks, a new age-21 rule for kratom sales and possession, and restrictions on prediction markets that a federal judge temporarily blocked before the law was scheduled to take effect.
Virtual-currency kiosks are prohibited, but removal takes longer
Beginning Aug. 1, Minnesota law prohibits a person from installing, operating, maintaining or making a virtual-currency kiosk available for use.
The law gives kiosk operators until Dec. 31, 2026, to remove machines that are visible or accessible to the public. Minneapolis residents may therefore still see a machine during the statutory wind-down period, but the machine’s presence does not mean the operator may continue normal kiosk transactions under the new prohibition.
By Dec. 31, an operator that conducts virtual-currency transactions exclusively through kiosks generally must pay out money or virtual currency held for, or owed to, a new or existing customer as a result of kiosk transactions. Customers may elect payment in U.S. dollars equal to the market value of the virtual currency plus any fiat currency, or a transfer to a designated virtual-currency wallet.
If a customer requests a wallet transfer, the operator must transfer the full amount within 30 days of the payout request. The payout must be recorded on the applicable blockchain, and the operator must retain proof of the transfer. The statute provides an exception when the operator continuously maintains other lawful means for customers to access, transfer, redeem or otherwise transact the money or virtual currency connected to kiosk transactions.
What Minneapolis kiosk users and hosts should watch for
People who have used an affected kiosk should look for instructions from the operator about payouts and keep transaction records, wallet information and receipts. The law does not establish that every kiosk in Minneapolis has customer funds subject to a payout, so individual circumstances may differ.
Businesses that host or have hosted a machine should confirm how the operator plans to handle removal, customer notices and any remaining customer funds. The Dec. 31 removal deadline is separate from the Aug. 1 prohibition: the prohibition began Aug. 1, while publicly visible or accessible machines have a later statutory removal deadline.
Kratom purchase age rises to 21
Minnesota also changed its kratom law effective Aug. 1. Selling kratom, or a substance containing mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine, to a person under 21 is a gross misdemeanor. A person under 21 who unlawfully possesses kratom or a covered substance commits a misdemeanor.
For Minneapolis retailers that sell kratom, the practical change is a higher age-verification threshold. Businesses should update point-of-sale procedures and train staff to apply the new under-21 restriction. The law is statewide, not a Minneapolis ordinance, and the available sources do not establish how many city retailers sell kratom.
Prediction-market restrictions are temporarily blocked
A separate Minnesota law was scheduled to take effect Aug. 1 and targets prediction-market activity involving services such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The law makes it a felony, when done for consideration and as part of a business, to create a prediction market, operate or manage a platform intended for prediction-market wagers, intentionally facilitate those wagers through specified services, or advertise or market products that promote prohibited transactions.
However, the restrictions are not currently enforceable under the federal court order. On July 27, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez temporarily blocked the law before its scheduled effective date. The Associated Press reported that the judge found the federal government and the operators were likely to succeed in their challenge and that allowing the law to take effect could cause irreparable harm. The law remains blocked while the lawsuit proceeds.
The dispute concerns whether federal law gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority over the event contracts offered by platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, or whether Minnesota may regulate those products as gambling. Minneapolis users should not treat the Aug. 1 effective date as proof that the prediction-market restrictions are presently enforceable.
What residents and businesses should do now
For Minneapolis residents, the immediate steps are practical: do not assume a visible virtual-currency kiosk can continue operating normally, retain records if a kiosk payout may be owed, and remember that Minnesota’s kratom restrictions now apply to people under 21.
Retailers and kiosk hosts should review their operations, customer notices and recordkeeping. Prediction-market users should monitor the federal case because the injunction is temporary and the legal status may change as litigation continues.
Sources
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