Australia Removes 45 Crypto and Money Transfer Registrations

Australia’s financial crime regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), has taken action against 45 remittance and virtual‑asset service providers (VASPs). The measures include cancellations, suspensions and refusals to renew registrations that occurred over the last year.

Reasons for the removals

AUSTRAC listed several grounds for the actions:

• Businesses that were dormant or inactive.
• Companies that were insolvent.
• Entities that failed to provide any designated service for extended periods.
• Firms lacking operational capacity to start or continue trading.
• Registrations that were incorrect or not updated to reflect material changes.
• Entities assessed as posing a significant risk of money‑laundering or terrorism financing.

Specific cases highlighted

AUSTRAC named BA Digital Ventures Pty Ltd, operating as GetCoins, as part of the sweep. After receiving customer complaints, the regulator worked with the National Anti‑Scam Centre (NASC) and requested operational information to evaluate the firm’s money‑laundering exposure. Organized cryptocurrency investment scams were alleged to have exploited the VASP.

Broader regulatory context

The action follows other recent enforcement steps in Australia’s payments sector, including an investigation into Western Union launched on September 1 and the suspension of Cryptolink in August, which resulted in 96 crypto ATMs being taken offline.

Regulator’s stance

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas emphasized that the rapid cross‑border movement of money creates high money‑laundering and terrorism‑financing risks. He warned that firms must understand and manage these risks and meet reporting obligations, or they may lose the ability to operate. AUSTRAC indicated that the removals are part of its annual risk update and that it will continue to remove businesses that present significant financial‑crime risks.