Australia is cleaning house in its crypto and money-transfer sector. Over the past year, the country’s financial crime regulator has canceled, suspended, or refused to renew the registrations of 45 businesses, including virtual asset service providers (VASPs).
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) says some of the firms were simply no longer functioning. Others were insolvent, lacked the capacity to operate, or had spent extended periods providing none of the services they were registered to offer.
But the most serious cases involved companies AUSTRAC considered a significant money-laundering or terrorism-financing risk.
The crackdown puts crypto and money transfer firms under a sharper spotlight as Australia’s authorities push businesses to prove they can identify and manage financial crime risks—not merely hold a registration.
Why Australia is pulling crypto and money transfer firms
AUSTRAC cited a wide range of reasons for the 45 regulatory actions. In some cases, businesses were dormant or had shut down. Others had the wrong type of registration or failed to tell AUSTRAC about material changes to their operations.
Operational weakness was another recurring problem. Some firms did not have the infrastructure or resources needed to begin operating properly or continue providing services.
Then there were companies whose activities raised more serious concerns around illicit finance.
AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said, “The rapid movement of money across borders can create some of the highest ML/TF risks.”
He added that financial crime does not stop at national borders, making cooperation between Australian authorities and international partners increasingly important.
GetCoins shows where the pressure gets real
One of the businesses named in AUSTRAC’s announcement was BA Digital Ventures Pty Ltd, which operated under the name GetCoins.
The regulator said it worked with the National Anti-Scam Centre after receiving complaints from customers. AUSTRAC then sought information about the company’s operations to determine whether it had the systems and capabilities needed to manage its exposure to money laundering.
According to the regulator, organized cryptocurrency investment scams allegedly took advantage of the VASP.
The case offers a glimpse into the kind of scrutiny crypto businesses can now face when regulators believe their controls are not keeping pace with the risks attached to fast-moving digital payments.
And GetCoins was not an isolated case.
AUSTRAC opened an investigation into Western Union on September 1 and, in August, suspended Cryptolink, an action that resulted in 96 crypto ATMs being taken offline.
For crypto and money transfer firms, the message is increasingly direct: registration is not a permanent shield. Companies have to maintain the right controls, keep regulators informed and meet their reporting obligations.
Thomas reinforced that point, saying, “Our message to industry is clear: understand and manage your risks and meet your reporting obligations, or you may not be able to continue operating.”
The latest enforcement actions also arrive alongside AUSTRAC’s annual risk update, signaling that the regulator intends to keep its scrutiny focused on businesses it considers to present substantial money-laundering or terrorism-financing exposure.
For the wider crypto industry, Australia’s approach is a reminder that the infrastructure moving money around the internet is becoming just as important a regulatory target as the assets themselves.