Australian Regulator Flags Crypto as Top Threat in Financial Crime Crackdown

In brief

  • Australian regulators announced priorities Wednesday focusing on digital currencies and cash-intensive businesses as top money laundering threats.
  • The agency will bring 80,000 new businesses under anti-money laundering laws starting July 2026 in Australia’s biggest regulatory expansion.
  • CEO Brendan Thomas signals shift from compliance checks to targeting “substantive risks and harms” at industry level.

Australia’s financial intelligence agency declared crypto a top threat in its financial crime crackdown Wednesday, announcing regulatory priorities that mark the “most ambitious overhaul of Australia’s anti-money laundering laws in a generation.”

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre CEO Brendan Thomas said the…

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