Cryptoassets Regulatory Intelligence

Australia (AU) · Module Detail

Australia: Cross-Border Transfer

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Cross-border crypto activity in Australia is governed principally through AUSTRAC's registration and reporting regime for digital currency exchanges under the AML/CTF Act 2006, rather than a crypto-specific cross-border capital control. There is no blanket outbound restriction on Australians transacting with offshore crypto exchanges, though AUSTRAC has proposed (not yet enacted) new powers to restrict or prohibit high-risk products such as crypto ATMs, citing their use in cross-border money laundering. CAUTION: treat the proposed AUSTRAC product-restriction power as pending, not in force.

Horizon · 2028 (± more than a year)First international CARF taxpayer information exchangeProposed · Tier 3 source
Standing sub-brief · as of 18 October 2026182 words · last cycle 2026-10-18

Cross-Border Transfer

The draft CARF-implementing legislation released by the Australian Treasury on 15 October 2026 would require reporting on crypto transactions involving Australian residents and would update existing financial-account reporting standards to support international automatic exchange of crypto-asset taxpayer information from 2028. This is a reporting-threshold obligation directed at tax transparency: service providers would be required to report qualifying transactions involving Australian-resident customers, enabling those reports to be exchanged with partner jurisdictions once the framework is operative.

no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief

Sources and findings (4)
  1. T3 · CoinDeskCoinDesk — Crypto ATM and digital currency exchange providers must register with AUSTRAC, monitor transactions and complete know-your-customer checks under the AML/CTF Act 2006, including reporting of large cash transactions.retrieved M4bindingin force
  2. T3 · CoinDeskCoinDesk — Australia's Home Affairs Minister proposed granting AUSTRAC new powers to restrict or prohibit high-risk products, explicitly naming crypto ATMs, due to their role in moving funds to high-risk jurisdictions, though this remains a proposal and not enacted law.retrieved M3bindingproposed
  3. T3 · CoinDeskCoinDesk — There is no current blanket Australian law prohibiting residents from using offshore digital currency exchanges; enforcement instead focuses on AML/CTF registration and reporting compliance by exchanges operating in or into Australia, such as KuCoin's AUSTRAC DCE registration to legally offer services locally.retrieved M3non-binding
  4. T1 · DECADECA — Cross-border virtual asset transfers involving Australian-registered exchanges are subject to FATF-aligned customer due diligence and record-keeping expectations administered via the AML/CTF framework, though AU-specific travel-rule transmission thresholds were not independently confirmed in this pass.retrieved M3non-bindingour coverage gap, expected to resolve on a re-run