Aussie Agency Investigates Over 50 Remittance and Crypto Exchanges for Reporting Breaches

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) announced today (Monday) that it has taken action against 13 remittance and digital currency exchange providers while investigating more than 50 other such firms.

Reporting Failure Leads to Action

The regulator, responsible for detecting, deterring, and disrupting criminal abuse of the financial system, took action because these platforms failed to properly report suspicious transactions that occurred on their platforms.

“Late last year, AUSTRAC cancelled, suspended, and refused renewals of registration for nine providers that had failed to meet their obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act,” said Brendan Thomas, CEO of AUSTRAC.

The regulator either convicted, prosecuted, or charged six companies with “a serious offence,” while another three were no longer operating a business requiring registration. Another two failed to fully meet registration requirements within the required time frame and have now been registered without conditions.

“A further two providers had conditions placed on their registrations and are now on notice—a failure to meet these conditions may lead to suspension or cancellation of their registrations,” Thomas added.

AUSTRAC also removed Zipmex Australia and FTX Express, two companies now in liquidation, from its Digital Currency Exchange Register.

AUSTRAC Closing Gaps

The Australian watchdog currently registers 417 digital currency exchanges and 5,112 remittance providers offering services in the country. It pointed out that since January 2024, it has issued 106 entities reminders of their obligations.

“Early last year, we initiated an investigation to identify and eliminate non-compliant providers and improve the industry’s reporting on suspicious matters,” said Thomas. “The blitz follows AUSTRAC’s analysis that identified systemic non-reporting and under-reporting in the remittance and digital currency exchange sectors.”

The agency also established an internal task force last year to investigate cryptocurrency ATMs that do not comply with local money laundering rules. Although, according to the agency, only a small number of registered crypto businesses operate crypto ATMs, the country has 1,200 operating crypto ATMs, the third-highest number globally.