Australia Will Regulate Exchanges Under AML/CTF Laws

Australia has recently provided a new set of rules for digital currency exchanges to take after. These rules are essentially pointed towards Anti-money laundering and terrorism financing (AML/CTF). AUSTRAC, the financial intelligence agency of the nation put out these rules on its official site that gives the crypto exchange platforms enough time to ensure their compliance with these regulations.

These commitments that should be met by each crypto exchange includes:

Adopting as well as maintaining an AML/CTF program so that the risks associated with the terrorist financing and money laundering can be identified, mitigated and further managed.

Identifying the identity of customers and their verification.

Keeping the particular records for about seven years.

The crypto exchanges have to further report the suspicious matters and transactions that involve the physical currency of $10,000 (7,700 US Dollars) or more, to the AUSTRAC.

Digital currency exchanges that are putting forth their services without getting registered will face penalties and criminal charges as posted by the financial authorities:

“A ‘policy principles’ period of six months will be in place from 3 April 2018. During that period, the AUSTRAC CEO can only take enforcement action if a DCE business fails to take ‘reasonable steps’ to comply.”

It has additionally mentioned by the regulators that while an application of an exchange for enlistment is under consideration, a transitional registration arrangement will occur that would fundamentally let the current operators proceed with their business and provide services. With respect to the businesses that are offering the DCE services, those need to get enlisted before May 14, 2018.

The procedure to counter the unlawful utilization of digital currencies began in 2017 when the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2017 was endorsed by the Australian Senate that further gave the oversight privileges of crypto exchanges to AUSTRAC.

Prior to this, Australia passed the legislation to end the twofold taxation of digital currencies. Crypto purchases that already were subjected to GST (Goods and Services Tax) will be treated the same way as foreign currencies in terms of GST once the bill passes.

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