08-26-2025 
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Australia’s financial intelligence and enforcement agency has instructed Binance Holdings Ltd.’s& local arm to appoint an external auditor after identifying “serious concerns” with the digital asset exchange’s anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) controls.
In an August 22 press release, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)—the agency responsible for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system in the country—said several issues had raised concerns about the world’s largest digital asset exchange (by trading volume), including Binance’s latest independent review, which the regulator said was “limited in scope relative to its size, business offerings and risks.”
The agency also flagged the allegedly high staff turnover at Binance, along with a lack of local resourcing and senior management oversight, which raised questions about the adequacy of the company’s AML/CTF governance.
“Big global operators may appear well resourced and positioned to meet complex regulatory requirements, but if they don’t understand local money laundering and terrorism financing risks, they are failing to meet their AML/CTF obligations in Australia,” said AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas. “Businesses can have systems and processes that apply to multiple jurisdictions – but they need to reflect local regulatory requirements.”
He added that “systems must adapt to the regulatory requirements, not the other way around.”
Thomas emphasized that AUSTRAC expects tighter controls from major global operators, particularly in “high risk sectors” involved in large transaction volumes, such as the digital asset space.
“This is a global company operating across borders in a high-risk environment. We expect robust customer identification, due diligence and effective transaction monitoring,” said Thomas. “Capacity and risk controls need to correspond to the size of a business and its market presence, particularly as it scales.”
According to the announcement, Binance Australia has 28 days to nominate external auditors for AUSTRAC’s consideration and selection.
Thomas underscored that the broader industry should also take heed of the warning, saying “all digital currency operators need to ensure they are complying with Australian law and limiting their exposure to crime.”
The increased scrutiny on Binance is very much in keeping with an ongoing crackdown on illicit digital asset activity in Australia, after a record-breaking year for global crypto-crime in 2024.
Australian crackdown
In January, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis published a report noting that “2024 was likely a record year for inflows to illicit actors.”
Since then, the firm has indicated that the industry is on track to break this record in 2025, with over $2.17 billion already stolen from digital asset services as of mid-July, “more devastating than the entirety of 2024.”
In response to such worrying statistics, Australia has been steadily tightening the reins on its digital asset market.
On August 21, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the country’s top markets and financial services regulator, revealed that between July 2023 and June 2025, it coordinated the removal of more than 14,000 investment scam phishing websites and online advertisements, including 3,015 digital asset investment scams.
At the same time, the regulator said its investment scam website takedown capability was being expanded to include social media ads.
“Expanding our investment scam takedown capability to social media ads will help safeguard Australian consumers,” said ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court, in an August 21 announcement. “The takedown capability is one example of how we are monitoring the latest trends and acting to protect Australians from those who try to steal from them.”Court went on to explain that while ASIC’s traditional toolkit—investigations, court actions, and administrative actions—is important, it must be utilized in combination with its takedown capability.
“While the latest data shows the coordinated work of the National Anti-Scam Centre is making progress in the fight against scams, there is still more work to do, and we urge Australians to stay vigilant,” she said.
This is in reference to stats provided by ASIC that showed overall scam losses had fallen 25.9% compared with 2022, when total scam losses peaked at $3.1 billion.
ASIC also released the top five online investment scam trends it identified over the past six months, including “AI washing,” where scammers claim their fake trading bots can generate passive income and unachievable returns; “scam website templates,” where scammers use slick templates, fake corporate documents and chatbot plugins to launch copy-cat scam websites; and “fake news articles,” where scammers create fake news pages with AI-generated celebrities and prominent Australians to collect contact info and pitch their scams.
The regulator said that its expanded operations would help prevent consumers from being directed to such schemes in the future.
However, it isn’t just online websites that have been under the spotlight; digital currency ATMs have also been the subject of increased scrutiny in Australia, as in other jurisdictions.
Crypto ATMs in the spotlight
At the end of March, AUSTRAC notified digital currency ATM operators of a lack of AML/CFT checks, issuing a warning on March 31 amid a spike in the number of crypto ATMs in the country.
According to AUSTRAC, Australia has the highest number of digital currency ATMs in the Asia Pacific region, growing from 60 in 2022 to approximately 1,600 as of March this year.
Last September, the agency’s CEO, Thomas, set up an internal task force of experts from AUSTRAC’s regulatory, enforcement, and intelligence areas to address money laundering and terrorism financing risks linked to digital currency ATMs.
“The taskforce has been busy engaging with businesses to understand the risks in their sector and assess their compliance with the law,” said Thomas. “It’s identified worrying trends and indicators of suspicious activity, including transactions that may be linked to scams or fraud.”
In June, AUSTRAC rolled out new operating rules and transaction limits for digital currency ATM operators, imposing a AUD5,000 (US$3,250) limit on cash deposits and withdrawals, as well as mandating scam warning signs, more robust transaction monitoring, and enhanced customer due diligence.
Thomas said the new conditions were designed “to help protect individuals from scams by deterring criminals from directing them to a crypto ATM, as well as to protect businesses from criminal exploitation.”
The publication of the new rules coincided with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealing that the country’s online cybercrime reporting system, ReportCyber, had received 150 unique reports of scams involving digital currency ATMs between January 2024 and January 2025.
The AFP said that total losses exceeded AUD3.1 million (US$2 million), but this may be “just the tip of the iceberg.”
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