Australian Financial Intelligence Authority 'deregisters' dormant cryptocurrency exchanges teaser

The Australian Financial Intelligence Commission (AUSTRAC) has announced a policy to fundamentally prevent dormant cryptocurrency exchanges from being used to commit fraud.
On the 29th (local time), AUSTRAC announced that it would tease the possibility of withdrawing or cancelling the registration of cryptocurrency exchanges that have no trading activity, and that these exchanges are being bought by criminals.
The ministry has raised concerns that digital currencies could be seized and used for crimes such as money laundering and fraud. Currently, there are 427 digital currency exchanges (DCEs) registered in Australia.
AUSTRAC believes that a significant number of these are likely to have ceased operations.
"If we don't use it, we will lose our registration," said Thomas, adding that he is "directly contacting exchanges that we believe are currently inactive."
Businesses must keep their business information, including the services they provide, up to date, or their registration may be cancelled."
In Australia, any entity that wishes to provide conversion services between cash and crypto assets, e.g.
Industrial ATM operators must also register with AUSTRAC, a measure to monitor crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion.
AUSTRAC may cancel registrations if it has reasonable grounds to believe that a suspended entity is not actually providing cryptocurrency-related services.
So far, 10 exchanges have been deregistered, the most recent being FTX Express, the Australian subsidiary of global exchange FTX, which went bankrupt in June 2024.