Bitcoin ATMs Pulled in Australia as Regulators Signal Wider Crackdown
Australia’s financial-crime regulator AUSTRAC suspended Cryptolink Pty Ltd’s registration as a Virtual Asset Service Provider for three months, starting August 9, after it failed to meet anti-money-laundering reporting obligations. The key breach involved not filing threshold transaction reports for large cash transactions, and the company also failed to respond to AUSTRAC’s information request. AUSTRAC said the operator was too high-risk to keep running for now. Cryptolink had previously met an enforceable undertaking and paid a A$56,340 fine, but that did not prevent the suspension. The action targets Australia’s largest Bitcoin and crypto ATM network, with 96 machines. Australia now has about 1,800 crypto ATMs, up from 23 in 2019, and police estimate about A$275 million flows through them annually. Regulators are increasingly treating crypto ATMs as a laundering and scam risk, and AUSTRAC says it will keep acting against serious non-compliance.
