AUSTRAC orders Cryptolink's crypto ATMs offline

AUSTRAC suspended the virtual asset service provider registration of Cryptolink Pty Ltd for three months from 9 August 2026, taking all 96 of its cryptocurrency automatic teller machines offline and barring the company from providing virtual asset services during the suspension. AUSTRAC Chief Executive Brendan Thomas said the decision reflected ongoing concerns about Cryptolink's ability to manage high-risk transactions through its machines, which allow customers to exchange cash for cryptocurrency.

Cryptolink had given AUSTRAC an enforceable undertaking in October 2025 after the regulator's Cryptocurrency Taskforce identified alleged contraventions of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, including late reporting of threshold transactions and weaknesses in its risk assessments, and paid a 56,340 dollar infringement notice at the same time. AUSTRAC said that while Cryptolink met the conditions of the enforceable undertaking, it subsequently failed to submit required threshold transaction reports and did not respond to a request for information, which led the regulator to treat continued operation as too high risk.

The suspension follows AUSTRAC's establishment of a dedicated Crypto Taskforce and its supervisory engagement with crypto ATM operators since late 2024, and sits alongside sector-wide operating conditions AUSTRAC has previously imposed on the industry. The action demonstrates that AUSTRAC will use registration suspension, not only civil penalties or enforceable undertakings, as a tool against reporting entities it considers too high risk to continue operating, particularly where earlier compliance commitments are not sustained.