[DigitalToday reporter Jae-won Choi] Australia’s transaction reporting and analysis centre, AUSTRAC, has stepped up oversight of high-risk payment and cryptocurrency businesses, cancelling or suspending registrations or refusing renewals for 45 remittance firms and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) over the past year.

Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 8, local time, that AUSTRAC removed from its register operators that lacked the capacity to do business, had not operated for long periods or were insolvent. The measures also covered businesses that failed to report significant changes, lacked required registration, or were judged to pose high money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks.

AUSTRAC Chief Executive Brendan Thomas (브렌던 토머스) said, "Businesses whose registrations have been cancelled can no longer provide the relevant services, and where necessary we referred business-related individuals to investigative and regulatory agencies in Australia and overseas." The 45 does not refer only to crypto firms, but is a combined figure for remittance operators and VASPs.

A representative case is GetCoins, operated by BA Digital Ventures. AUSTRAC reviewed the operator’s ability to manage money-laundering risks after customer complaints and cancelled its VASP registration on June 4. Authorities said, "GetCoins is suspected of being misused for organised cryptocurrency investment fraud, and the cancellation, carried out in cooperation with the National Anti-Scam Centre, helped block related activity."

More recently, it suspended the registration of cryptocurrency ATM operator Cryptolink for three months. The action covers 96 ATMs the company operated. AUSTRAC cited high-risk transaction management and failures to meet mandatory reporting requirements.

Regulatory intensity is expanding across the broader payments industry. AUSTRAC this month also launched a separate investigation into Western Union, examining high-risk payment channels and issues in managing customers and partners. Authorities said they will continue removing from the market businesses that fail to meet registration requirements and anti-money laundering obligations, given the high risk that cryptocurrencies and international remittances can be misused to move criminal proceeds.