The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) recently took action against 13 remittance and digital currency exchange providers with more than 50 others still in its sights.

The anti-money laundering regulator is wrapping up a year-long blitz to target non-reporting and under reporting, issuing another round of alerts to the industry’s potentially non-compliant operators.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said alerts are a precursor to potential regulatory action and identify AUSTRAC’s concerns that operators may not be reporting suspicious matters and transactions to AUSTRAC.

These regulatory actions included:

• Key personnel of Auaisa Trading Pty Ltd, Amco Travelling and Exchange Pty, Blue Star Exchange Pty Ltd, B-Paywize Pty Ltd, W Solution Group Pty Ltd, and TSS Farms & Group Pty Ltd were either convicted, prosecuted or charged with a serious offence, or were the subject of legal proceedings in relation to the management of an entity, which reflected adversely on their honesty or integrity.
• DIGI-SEND E-Money Pty Ltd, Rootie Technology Pty Ltd, and Jinte Net Blockchain Pty Ltd were no longer operating a business requiring registration.
• Currencyfair Australia Pty Ltd and Currencyfair Limited failed to meet registration requirements fully within the required time period. They are now registered with conditions.

Separately, another two providers, Zipmex Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) and FTX Express Pty Ltd (in liq) have been removed from the Digital Currency Exchange Register following their insolvencies.

Current AUSTRAC records show 417 digital currency exchanges and 5,112 remittance registrations Australia-wide. Since January 2024, AUSTRAC has issued to 106 entities reminders of their obligations. The entities are across all sectors and those entities which continue to be non-compliant could face further regulatory action.

AUSTRAC remains concerned about money laundering risks in the DCE sector in particular and will continue to address these concerns through the Crypto Taskforce established last year and its regulatory function more broadly.