Australian financial regulatory authorities will crack down severely on inactive cryptocurrency exchanges

According to Cointelegraph, Australia's anti money laundering agency AUSTRAC requires cryptocurrency exchanges that have registered but are not actually operating to voluntarily revoke their registration, otherwise they will be forcibly deregistered. The institution stated on April 29th that some of the 427 registered exchanges that have not conducted business for a long time may be acquired by criminals for fraud. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas emphasized that registered companies need to update their operational status in a timely manner, otherwise they will face the disposal of "use or cancellation". AUSTRAC plans to publish a list of registered exchanges to help the public identify legitimate platforms. Since 2019, 10 institutions have been disqualified, including FTX local subsidiaries processed in June 2024. In February of this year, the institution also took compliance review measures against 13 remittance service providers and exchanges. At present, Australia has not yet introduced specific cryptocurrency regulations, and the government plans to promote the inclusion of exchanges in the regulatory framework of existing financial services laws before the May 3 election.