(Reuters) – Australia’s Financial Crimes Monitoring Agency said on Friday it has established an internal cryptocurrency task force to identify and take action on crypto ATM providers that fail to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering laws.


The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC) said the findings showed cryptocurrency is increasingly being exploited for money laundering, fraud and money mule activities.


AUSTRAC’s task force will ensure that digital currency exchanges offering crypto ATMs have robust practices in place to minimize the risk of their machines being used to move funds related to scams or fraud, the government agency said.


A crypto ATM allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and dogecoin, for cash.


Currently, Australia has 1,200 operating crypto ATMs, while approximately 400 digital currency exchange providers are registered with AUSTRAC.


The total value of the cryptocurrency market has almost doubled over the year so far. Bitcoin also reached an all-time high above $100,000 as the election of Donald Trump as US president raised expectations that his administration would usher in a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.


AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said the agency was seeing “too many” Australians falling victim to cryptocurrency scams.


“Cryptocurrency and crypto ATMs are attractive avenues for criminals looking to launder money because they are widely accessible and perform almost instantaneous and irreversible transfers,” he said, adding that crypto ATMs that flout anti-money laundering laws would be subjected. to financial sanctions.


(Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Krishna Chandra Eluri)



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