Australia Warns Crypto ATM Operators Over Money Laundering Risks
Australia's financial crime regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), has raised alarms about cryptocurrency ATMs, warning that they may be facilitating money laundering and fraud.
The concern comes after AUSTRAC’s cryptocurrency task force, launched in December 2024, identified troubling trends involving crypto ATMs, including links to scams and fraudulent activities.
AUSTRAC’s CEO, Brendan Thomas, stressed that cryptocurrency ATM providers must strengthen their operational standards to reduce the likelihood of their machines being exploited for illicit purposes.
Currently, Australia leads the Asia-Pacific region with over 1,648 cryptocurrency ATMs, a sharp increase from just 23 in 2019. Sydney alone has 348 of these machines. This rise in ATM numbers coincides with a growing push from lawmakers in the U.S. to impose stricter regulations on cryptocurrency kiosks, particularly as scams, including those targeting vulnerable senior citizens, continue to rise.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
