Australia Removes 45 Remittance and Crypto Firms

Australia’s financial crime regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), removed 45 remittance and virtual asset service provider registrations from national registers during the past year, citing inactivity, insolvency, incorrect registrations and significant money-laundering or terrorism-financing risk.

AUSTRAC said the actions included cancellations, suspensions and refused renewals. Some businesses were dormant or had not provided designated services for long periods. Other firms lacked the operational capacity to trade or held the wrong registration type. The regulator also identified entities that did not notify AUSTRAC of material changes to their operations and a subset it judged to pose a significant ML/TF risk.

BA Digital Ventures Pty Ltd, which traded as GetCoins, was named among the registrations removed. AUSTRAC worked with the National Anti-Scam Centre after receiving customer complaints and sought documents to assess GetCoins’ ability to manage money-laundering exposure. AUSTRAC said organized cryptocurrency investment scams had used the VASP’s services.

The regulator linked the removals to broader enforcement in the payments and crypto sectors. AUSTRAC opened an investigation into Western Union on September 1 and suspended Cryptolink in August; the suspension took about 96 crypto ATMs offline. AUSTRAC described these actions as part of its focus on businesses that fail to meet reporting and risk-management obligations.

Brendan Thomas, AUSTRAC’s chief executive, said the rapid cross-border flow of funds creates some of the highest money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks and urged industry participants to understand and manage their risks and meet reporting obligations.

Under Australia’s anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules, remittance providers and virtual asset service providers must register with AUSTRAC and comply with ongoing reporting and controls. AUSTRAC monitors compliance and can suspend or cancel registrations when firms are inactive, lack adequate controls, or present unacceptable risk to the financial system.

AUSTRAC said it has referred individuals behind some removed businesses to law enforcement and works with domestic and international partners on follow-up investigations. Customers and counterparties of removed providers may face service interruptions or difficulty accessing funds while businesses wind down or are investigated.