Kansas Must Lead on Cryptocurrency

Craig Bowser • January 8, 2026

When most people think about fraud, they picture a bad check or a suspicious phone call. After years working in cybersecurity and serving in the U.S. Army Reserves, I see something very different. Today’s financial scams look less like petty crime and more like organized cyber operations. They move fast, exploit technology, and are increasingly aimed at Kansas families who are simply trying to pay bills, save for retirement, and keep their personal information secure.


Cryptocurrency scams are one of the fastest growing threats in that environment. Across the country, Americans reported approximately $9.3 billion in losses tied to cryptocurrency fraud in 2024, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. These schemes are not random. They are targeted, scripted, and designed to funnel money through digital systems that are difficult to trace and nearly impossible to recover once funds are sent.


In Kansas, we are seeing more cases involving digital currency kiosks placed in everyday retail locations. Victims are often coached step by step by criminals who pose as law enforcement officers, technical support agents, or government officials. By the time the fraud is discovered, the money has already disappeared into digital wallets beyond the reach of traditional safeguards.


This is not just a financial problem. It is a cybersecurity problem. And it requires modern solutions.


That is why the Kansas Legislature is advancing new protections focused on fraud prevention in digital asset transactions. The goal is straightforward. We must make it harder for criminals to operate and easier for Kansas families and seniors to recognize and stop scams before they cause permanent damage.


The legislation strengthens oversight of cryptocurrency kiosks and digital currency operators, requires meaningful fraud warnings and disclosures, mandates the use of tools that block transfers to wallets known to be connected to criminal activity, and provides cooling off periods and refund protections to give victims time to realize something is wrong. These measures are about prevention first, not punishment after the fact.


Strong consumer protection does not conflict with innovation. In fact, it enables it. Clear standards create safer markets, build trust, and allow responsible businesses to grow while shutting down bad actors who rely on confusion and loopholes.


Kansas is taking an important step forward, but digital crime does not respect state borders.


As Congress continues to debate national crypto legislation, federal lawmakers must recognize that inconsistent rules and regulatory gaps create opportunities for criminals. A modern digital economy requires a modern enforcement framework that prioritizes fraud prevention, accountability, and coordination between state and federal authorities.


Kansas families and seniors deserve consistent protections, whether a transaction happens in Topeka or through a server on the other side of the world. Kansas is moving to strengthen its safeguards. Now Washington must do the same and ensure that innovation does not come at the cost of security.

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Op-Ed: Washington must match Kansas: Moran, Marshall can deliver clarity on crypto

By Craig Bowser • June 23, 2026
Kansas families didn't ask to become the front lines of the digital currency debate. But when crypto kiosks started showing up in gas stations and grocery stores across our state, and scammers started using them to drain the savings of our seniors, we had no choice but to act. Over the past two years, I worked to build a Kansas framework that takes digital assets seriously: both the genuine promise they hold and the very real dangers they pose when left ungoverned. Earlier this year, Kansas passed House Bill 2591, the Virtual Currency Kiosk Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law this spring. That legislation requires kiosk operators to register with the state, use blockchain analytics software to screen for wallets tied to known fraud, display clear on-screen warnings before any transaction, cap fees, and ensure live customer service is always available. It passed unanimously. Not a single Kansas legislator voted against protecting our families. As I said when we moved this legislation forward: Kansas families and seniors deserve consistent protections, whether a transaction happens in Topeka or through a server on the other side of the world. Kansas is moving to strengthen its safeguards. Now Washington must do the same and ensure that innovation does not come at the cost of security. That moment has arrived. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or the Clarity Act, is now before the United States Senate, having passed the House last July with a commanding bipartisan vote of 294 to 134 and cleared the Senate Banking Committee this May. Kansas's two U.S. Senators, Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, have the standing, the credibility, and the duty to help carry it across the finish line. For years, digital asset markets have operated in a regulatory no-man's land, with inconsistent rules and regulatory gaps. This ambiguity does not protected consumers and allows criminals to operate. The Clarity Act ends that confusion. The bill draws clear jurisdictional lines and creates a modern enforcement framework that prioritizes fraud prevention, accountability, and coordination between state and federal authorities. It is designed, in the Senate Banking Committee's own words, to "prevent a future FTX collapse," the kind of catastrophic fraud that wiped out billions in ordinary Americans' savings. These are exactly the kinds of guardrails Kansas has been building at the state level. Washington should be doing the same. State-by-state protections are not a substitute for a national framework. A scammer who uses a crypto kiosk in Wichita can route funds through a dozen foreign servers before the transaction settles. That is not a problem Kansas alone can solve. For years, unregulated crypto platforms have competed against community banks without carrying deposit insurance requirements, capital mandates, or the full weight of federal banking regulation. The Clarity Act begins to level that playing field by bringing digital asset intermediaries under comparable federal oversight. Even more importantly, it gives community banks a defined regulatory lane to participate in the digital asset economy themselves, rather than watching from the sidelines as megabanks build out their own tokenized infrastructure. The Independent Community Bankers of America called the bill's committee passage "an important step" toward protecting Main Street community lending. Without clear rules, Kansas community banks face the worst of both worlds. The Clarity Act changes that. Kansas acted. We did it with broad bipartisan support and the backing of AARP Kansas, the Kansas Bankers Association, and the Credit Union Association. Senator Moran has spent decades fighting for Kansas's rural communities and small businesses, the same Kansans most likely to be targeted by crypto fraud. Senator Marshall has consistently focused on cutting through government dysfunction to let markets work. But markets only work when rules apply equally to everyone. It is time to protect Kansans.

Senate Bill 372 Brings Small-Town Values to the Digital World

By Craig Bowser • March 12, 2026
In my rural district, which covers northeast Kansas, families look out for one another and protect their kids at all costs. In our small towns, Kansans trust that public schools will not open their doors to child predators, banks will not make sharky loans to children, and corner stores will not sell unaccompanied minors alcohol, tobacco, or other age-restricted products. Unfortunately, Kansas parents cannot count on the same protections for their kids online. Today’s digital world works less like a small town and more like the Wild West. The fabric of trust, accountability, and shared values that ties Kansans together is nowhere to be found on our kids’ phones and tablets – least of all on the app store marketplaces that deliver millions of poorly regulated platforms straight to our kids’ home screens. In just a few taps, app stores allow kids to download improperly age-rated platforms, including social media apps, violent video games, AI chatbots, and anonymous messaging tools, all of which can become breeding grounds for blackmailers and child predators. When kids agree to download or purchase these platforms, they also consent to opaque terms of service conditions that allow developers to comb through their contacts, search history, and camera roll and constitute binding contracts. At no point in the process is a parent notified or asked to consent. As a father, I find this lack of default, automatic protection entirely unacceptable. Parents deserve better tools to supervise kids online. And children deserve stronger safeguards. That is why I support Senate Bill 372 , the App Store Accountability Act. Senate Bill 372 would restore trust, order, and transparency to the app store overnight. Just like teachers require a signed permission slip for a student to participate in a field trip, Senate Bill 372 would require informed parental consent for all minors’ app downloads and purchases. This precautionary step has potential to stop harm in its tracks, empowering parents to block kids’ access to risky apps that open the door to cyberbullying, mature content, sextortion, and more before they are ever installed. How it works in practice is simple. Senate Bill 372 would require app stores to use their existing age-verification mechanisms as the foundation for obtaining parental approval. During account set-up, app stores would link minor and parent accounts, providing parents with a secure and familiar system to manage the platforms available on their kids’ devices without needing to repeatedly share age information on an app-by-app basis. Kansans agree this bill is necessary. Recent polling shows overwhelming bipartisan support for Senate Bill 372’s core premise: 81% of Kansans, including 82% of parents, support requiring app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent before minors can download apps. The reason behind this near-unanimous support is simple. App stores serve as the primary gateways to the digital world, and parents agree that is where meaningful safeguards must begin. Parental consent, truth in advertising, contracting fairness, and age-gating are common-sense safety guardrails that ought to be built-in to app stores, just as they are in the real world. Kansas parents are tired of waiting for Washington to deliver the digital protections our kids urgently need. It’s time we follow in the footsteps of Utah, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama and pass the App Store Accountability Act in Topeka. I was proud to vote with my Senate colleagues to advance Senate Bill 372 to the Kansas House of Representatives where it now awaits a hearing in the Committee on Federal and State Affairs. I urge my fellow state lawmakers to act without delay and pass this bill to protect future generations from exploitation and the harms of an unaccountable digital marketplace.