Bitcoin ATMs Pulled in Australia as Regulators Signal Wider Crackdown

Australia’s financial-crime regulator AUSTRAC has pulled the plug on the country’s largest Bitcoin and crypto ATM network.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre said on Monday it suspended Cryptolink Pty Ltd’s registration as a Virtual Asset Service Provider, or VASP, for three months, effective August 9, after the company failed to keep up with its anti-money-laundering paperwork.

A VASP is any business that moves digital assets for customers, and under Australia’s anti-money laundering rules it must flag certain activity to the government. One key duty is filing threshold transaction reports for cash moves above a set limit. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said Cryptolink “met the conditions stipulated in its enforceable undertaking, [but] subsequently failed to meet basic reporting obligations, particularly for threshold transaction reports.”

The company also didn’t answer AUSTRAC’s request for information. Thomas said AUSTRAC “deemed it too high risk to continue operating at present.”

Meeting the earlier undertaking and paying the $56,340 fine in October 2025 didn’t spare Cryptolink. AUSTRAC accepted that enforceable undertaking after its Cryptocurrency Taskforce found alleged late reporting and weak risk assessments, and still moved to suspend the company months later. The previous penalties didn’t settle the matter; they bought time the operator didn’t use.

A warning shot for the sector

The 96 machines are a slice of a fast-growing footprint. Australia now hosts the highest number of crypto ATMs in the Asia Pacific region, roughly 1,800 machines, up from just 23 in 2019, per AUSTRAC. The Australian Federal Police has said about $275 million moves through the country’s Bitcoin and crypto ATMs every year.

Regulators increasingly treat the cash-to-crypto touchpoints as a scam and laundering channel as even operators themselves have admitted the industry became “a safe haven for bad actors.”

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister has proposed giving AUSTRAC power to control or prohibit so-called high-risk products, including crypto ATMs, and AUSTRAC’s Crypto Taskforce has been engaging operators since late 2024.

“We will continue to keep a close watch on the cryptocurrency sector, particularly businesses operating crypto ATMs, and will take action where we identify serious risks or non-compliance,” Brendan Thomas said.

The suspension runs until November 9, 2026.