AUSTRAC cancels 45 crypto and remittance registrations

TLDR

Australia's financial crime regulator AUSTRAC has removed 45 crypto and remittance registrations over the past year as part of a clampdown on high risk payment businesses.

1. AUSTRAC canceled, suspended or refused to renew 45 registrations for crypto and remittance providers, citing inactivity, insolvency, weak controls and money laundering or terrorism financing risks.
2. Cases include GetCoins and Cryptolink, with a canceled virtual asset registration, suspended crypto ATMs and some individuals referred to law enforcement, though not all 45 firms are accused of misconduct.
3. For Australian crypto users and firms this tightens the need for proper AUSTRAC registration and upcoming licensing, so checking providers against official registers and monitoring further enforcement moves now matters more.

Deep Dive

1. Scope Of The AUSTRAC Crackdown

AUSTRAC reports that over roughly the past year it has canceled, suspended or refused to renew 45 registrations covering digital currency and remittance providers within its remit, as part of a push on high risk payments businesses. The actions target providers that were inactive, insolvent, lacked operational capacity, held incorrect registrations, failed to report material business changes or posed significant money laundering or terrorism financing risk, according to an AUSTRAC summary cited by Cointelegraph and other outlets.

The 45 figure is an aggregate, combining crypto and remittance registrations and including cancellations, suspensions and non renewals, so it does not mean 45 separate crypto exchanges all lost live licences at once. AUSTRAC has stated that businesses whose registrations are canceled can no longer legally operate in Australias financial system and that some associated individuals have been referred to Australian and overseas law enforcement partners.

Confidence: high because multiple independent outlets quote the same AUSTRAC announcement and key figures.

2. Who Was Hit And How

AUSTRAC singled out BA Digital Ventures, trading as GetCoins, which lost its virtual asset registration on 4 June after customer complaints about alleged crypto investment scams that reportedly exploited the platform, in a case coordinated with the National Anti Scam Centre and detailed by Crypto.news. The regulator has not said GetCoins itself ran the scams, only that cancellation helped disrupt them.

Another high profile case is Cryptolink, whose registration was suspended for three months from 9 August, taking 96 crypto ATMs offline after repeat failures in threshold transaction reporting and unanswered information requests. AUSTRACs public VASP register also shows actions involving Self Custody, Jam Xchange and Coinsec Australia, but there is still no full public list or breakdown of all 45 affected registrations across the crypto and remittance sectors.

3. What It Means For Crypto In Australia

Crypto exchanges and other digital asset providers in Australia must hold current AUSTRAC registration to operate and are now under closer supervision, with AUSTRAC running targeted campaigns on local exchanges and over the counter crypto businesses and applying travel rule style identity checks to virtual asset transfers, as described in the same Crypto.news report. In parallel, ASIC has told digital asset firms relying on temporary relief to obtain full financial services licences by 30 September 2026 or face potential penalties, according to a regulatory summary from CoinGeek.

For users, the immediate practical step is to verify that any Australian exchange or remittance service still appears on AUSTRACs public register and to watch for direct notices from providers about registration or licensing status. For firms, the message is that weak reporting, poor governance or misaligned registrations can now more readily result in suspension or cancellation instead of warnings.

Conclusion

AUSTRACs removal of 45 crypto and remittance registrations ties into a broader shift toward stricter anti money laundering and licensing standards for digital asset businesses in Australia. That raises compliance costs and operating risk for providers that fall behind, while pushing users to pay more attention to whether their platforms remain properly registered and licensed.