45 Providers Struck Off One Register, a Final Deadline on the Other: Australia's Digital Asset Squeeze

Key Takeaways

• AUSTRAC disclosed in September 2026 that it cancelled, suspended or refused to renew 45 remittance and virtual asset provider registrations over the past year, for reasons ranging from dormancy and insolvency to missed notifications and money laundering or terrorism financing risk.
• A cancelled registration ends the right to provide the registered service, and AUSTRAC has referred people behind some providers to law enforcement and regulatory partners in Australia and overseas.
• ASIC's no-action position for digital asset businesses closes on 30 September 2026, extended once from 30 June, and ASIC has called it the final window. Over 45 licence applications have been lodged since INFO 225 was updated in October 2025.
• Firms needing an Australian Market Licence or a clearing and settlement facility licence must have notified ASIC in writing and held a pre-application meeting by the same date.
• The two announcements describe one squeeze: registration and licensing are now actively policed at both ends, and unlicensed conduct after the window closes carries civil penalties that can reach 10% of annual turnover, alongside criminal exposure.

1. 1.What AUSTRAC Announced
2. 2.Why the Removals Matter Beyond the 45
3. 3.The Other Side of the Squeeze: ASIC's Final Window
4. 4.One Sector, Two Perimeters, No Passive Positions
5. 5.What To Do Before 30 September
6. 6.Frequently Asked Questions

Two announcements landed within days of each other this month, and they are best read as one story. AUSTRAC disclosed that it has cancelled, suspended or refused to renew 45 remittance and virtual asset provider registrations over the past year. ASIC reminded digital asset businesses that its no-action position, the enforcement bridge that lets existing operators keep trading while a licence application is assessed, closes on 30 September 2026 and will not be treated as open-ended. One regulator is actively culling its register. The other is closing the door to its licence queue. For businesses in the sector, the era of holding a registration passively and dealing with the licence question later is over at both ends.

What AUSTRAC Announced

The 45 figure combines cancellations, suspensions and refusals to renew across AUSTRAC's remittance and virtual asset registers over the past year. The reasons are instructive because most of them are not headline misconduct. Providers were removed for dormancy, for insolvency, for lacking the operational capacity to deliver the registered service, for failing to report material changes in their business and for lapsed registrations, alongside the cases involving assessed money laundering or terrorism financing risk. AUSTRAC's chief executive was blunt about the consequence: a business whose registration is cancelled can no longer operate the covered service. The agency also confirmed it referred the people behind some providers to law enforcement and regulatory partners in Australia and overseas.

The most prominent single action was the cancellation of BA Digital Ventures Pty Ltd, which traded as the crypto exchange GetCoins, on 4 June 2026. That cancellation followed customer complaints connected to organised investment scams reaching the National Anti-Scam Centre. The allegation was that the platform was being exploited by scam activity, not that the provider organised it, and that distinction is exactly the point: a provider whose controls let scam flows through is a registration risk even where nobody alleges the provider is the scammer.

Why the Removals Matter Beyond the 45

Since the reformed AML/CTF regime commenced on 31 March 2026, the old digital currency exchange category has become the broader virtual asset service provider framework, covering crypto-to-crypto exchange, transfers, custody and token sale participation as designated services. Registration under that framework was never meant to be a plaque on the wall, and this year's removals show AUSTRAC treating it as a living status. Three practical lessons sit in the deregistration reasons:

• Dormancy is a removal ground. Businesses parking a registration for a future pivot or holding one while operations sit idle are now visible and being removed. If the registration matters to your plans, the business behind it has to be real.
• Housekeeping failures are removal grounds. Missed notifications of material business changes and lapsed renewals accounted for a meaningful share of the removals. These are administrative failures with commercial consequences, because a cancelled registration ends the service, strands customers and becomes a permanent feature of your regulatory history.
• Scam exposure is a provider problem. The GetCoins cancellation shows that complaint volumes flowing to the National Anti-Scam Centre can end a registration where the provider's controls did not deal with the flows. Transaction monitoring and customer due diligence are not just reporting obligations, they are what keeps the registration alive.

The Other Side of the Squeeze: ASIC's Final Window

While AUSTRAC prunes its register, ASIC is closing its licensing window. The sequence matters. ASIC updated Information Sheet 225 in October 2025, making clear that many digital asset products and services are financial products under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), and issued a class no-action position on 29 October 2025 so existing businesses could keep operating while they applied for an Australian financial services licence. That position was due to expire on 30 June 2026. On 25 June 2026 ASIC extended it to 30 September 2026, clarified that businesses operating under or entering authorised representative or intermediary authorisation arrangements are covered and set the same date for firms needing an Australian Market Licence or a clearing and settlement facility licence to notify ASIC in writing and hold a pre-application meeting.

ASIC has since described the September date as the final call, and reported over 45 licence applications from digital asset businesses since the INFO 225 update. Businesses that lodge a complete application by 30 September stay covered while it is assessed, through to the commencement of the Digital Assets Framework regime on 9 April 2027. Businesses that do not lose the bridge: unlicensed conduct involving financial products carries criminal exposure and civil penalties that can reach 10% of annual turnover. Our guide to the extension and the options inside the window covers the mechanics: the AFSL lodgement window and what to do in it.

One Sector, Two Perimeters, No Passive Positions

Put the two announcements together and the message to the sector is coherent. A digital asset business in Australia now sits inside two actively policed perimeters at once. AUSTRAC governs the anti-money laundering side: enrolment, registration, program, due diligence, monitoring and reporting, with removal from the register as the sanction for businesses that go quiet or let their obligations lapse. ASIC governs the financial services side: whether your tokens and services are financial products, and if so, the licence, disclosure and conduct obligations that follow, with the no-action bridge about to come down. The same business can be compliant with one and exposed on the other, and the regulators' timing this month makes clear that neither will wait for the other.

It is the same lesson the wider regime map has been teaching all year: there is no single digital assets law and no single regulator, and the businesses that thrive are the ones that treat the perimeters as one compliance posture rather than two separate chores. Our digital assets regulatory map sets out how the regimes fit together, and our analysis of what the law actually says in 2026 covers each regime in detail.

What To Do Before 30 September

• If you have not lodged with ASIC: establish this week whether your tokens and services involve financial products, then choose the vehicle: an AFSL application, a variation or an authorised representative or intermediary authorisation arrangement, which the extended no-action position expressly covers. A complete lodgement by 30 September keeps you operating; an incomplete one may not.
• If you need a market or clearing and settlement licence: the written notification and pre-application meeting carry the same deadline and involve ASIC's diary as well as yours. Start immediately.
• If you hold an AUSTRAC registration: audit the housekeeping. Renewals current, material business changes notified, the AML/CTF program matched to the services you actually provide under the reformed framework and transaction monitoring that would stand up to a scam-complaint inquiry.
• If you are doing neither well: get a privileged assessment of the whole position before either regulator writes first. The options are wider and cheaper before contact than after it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did AUSTRAC remove 45 providers from its registers?

The removals combine cancellations, suspensions and refusals to renew over the past year. Reasons ranged from dormancy, insolvency and lack of operational capacity to missed notifications of business changes, lapsed registrations and assessed money laundering or terrorism financing risk. Some matters were referred to law enforcement and regulatory partners.

What happens to a business whose AUSTRAC registration is cancelled?

It can no longer provide the registered remittance or virtual asset service. Continuing to operate after cancellation is itself a serious contravention, and the cancellation becomes part of the business's regulatory history, which matters for any future registration or licence application, including with ASIC.

What is the 30 September 2026 ASIC deadline?

It is the expiry of ASIC's no-action position for existing digital asset businesses, extended on 25 June 2026 from the original 30 June date. Lodging a complete AFSL application or variation by 30 September keeps a business covered while the application is assessed. ASIC has described it as the final call.

We are registered with AUSTRAC. Does that cover the ASIC side?

No. AUSTRAC registration deals with anti-money laundering obligations. Whether you also need an Australian financial services licence depends on whether your tokens and services are financial products under the Corporations Act, which is a separate analysis with its own deadline now days away.

Remittance or digital asset business? We advise on AUSTRAC registration and enforcement, AML/CTF programs and the ASIC licensing transition. Call Astris Law on (07) 3519 5616. See our AML/CTF practice and the crypto and blockchain industry page.

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