Australia Sets Registration Deadline for Cryptocurrency Exchanges - Cryptocurrency Regulation

Australia’s Financial Intelligence Agency (AUSTRAC) –the organization in charge of monitoring and investigating financial crimes in Australia has implemented a new regulation instructing all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to register with the authority before the end of May this year.

The new policy was put together for the Australian-based digital currency exchange (DCE) and would be implemented by Australia’s financial intelligence agency and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulator.

The announcement was published on the agency’s website under the title "New Australian laws to regulate cryptocurrency providers". This is the first time Australian authorities are attempting to regulate the cryptocurrency industry.

The publication urged all cryptocurrency exchange firms to comply with the new regulations which became effective on April 3rd. The CEO of AUSTRAC Nicole Rose PSM disclosed that the new regulation would combat money laundering, cybercrime and even prevent terrorist finance network from solidifying AUSTRAC intelligence gathering capabilities.

Also according to the publication, AUSTRAC instructed that “DCEs (digital currency exchanges) with a business operation located in Australia must now register with AUSTRAC and meet the Government’s AML/CTF compliance and reporting obligations,”

Making Cryptocurrency Transactions safer in Australia.

Nicole Rosen believes that this new policy will provide better security for business practice and also increase public confidence in the cryptocurrency industry. She further noted that this new reform would give AUSTRAC more opportunity to assist in the sharing of critical data and information relating to the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Under the new rule, any crypto transaction involving cash transfer of over $10,000 AUD would need to be recorded. Furthermore, once an exchange operator is registered it will be mandated to verify its customer’s identity and monitor all transactions in the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) standard.