AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial intelligence regulator, announced that it had cancelled, suspended or refused to renew 45 registrations for crypto‑asset service providers and remittance firms over the past year. The regulator said the actions focused on entities that were inactive, insolvent, or lacked the capacity to operate, as well as those that failed to report material changes, submitted incorrect registrations, or posed significant money‑laundering or terrorism‑financing risks.
AUSTRAC chief Brendan Thomas warned that businesses whose registrations were cancelled can no longer operate and that individuals linked to some firms have been referred to Australian and overseas law‑enforcement partners. The regulator highlighted the case of BA Digital Ventures, trading as GetCoins, whose virtual‑asset registration was cancelled in June after customer complaints. AUSTRAC, working with the National Anti‑Scam Centre, said GetCoins had been exploited by organized cryptocurrency investment scams and that its removal helped disrupt the activity.
While AUSTRAC did not disclose the full list of the 45 entities, its public VASP register shows recent actions involving GetCoins, Cryptolink, Self Custody, Jam Xchange and Coinsec Australia. In addition, AUSTRAC has opened an investigation into Western Union and suspended Cryptolink’s crypto‑ATM network pending further review.
