Australian Government Moves to Regulate Cryptocurrency Exchanges

The Australian government has introduced legislation in mid-August 2017 that will regulate virtual currency exchanges in the country.

The bill forms part of the plan by the government to strengthen the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act and bolster the authority of the Australian Transactions and Reporting Analysis Centre (Austrac).

In its announcement, the coalition government said that the bill will empower Austrac to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

Austrac is a financial intelligence agency which is responsible for implementing the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regulations:

“The bill provides a net regulatory relief to industry of $36 mln annually, with the digital currency exchange sector being regulated for the first time, while deregulating low-risk industries such as cash-in-transit, which is already subject to state and territory licensing requirements.”