The Australian Report and Analysis Center (Austrac) fined the local Cointree cryptocurrency exchange for untimely submission of suspicious transactions (SMR).

The regulator sent the exchange to the corresponding notification after Cointree voluntarily reported that she did not comply with the reporting time, in accordance with the Law on the Combating of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CTF). Adjustable platforms are required to notify the regulators within 3 business days after the detection of suspicious transactions that may be related to money laundering, and within 24 hours after detecting transactions that may be related to financing terrorism. Ignoring suspicious transactions and the inability to notify the regulator about them is considered a violation.

Austrac General Director Brendan Thomas said that exchanges that do not fulfill regulatory requirements prevent the department from effectively preventing illegal activities and taking operational measures. He noted that if crypto services do not send reports in time, this means that their monitoring systems do not work properly. All regulated services should use effective control tools to fulfill their obligations, Thomas emphasized.

“Reporting helps Austrac and law enforcement agencies to receive information about the unlawful use of finance. Thanks to this information, and on the basis of these reports, we can start criminal investigations. We need to respond to these reports as soon as possible, so we set the time frame in order to have time to warn our partners about probable crimes, ”said Thomas.

In 2024, Austrac published the results of an assessment of the risk of money laundering in Australia, according to which crypto -rhinas are considered vulnerable to laundering money. Due to the rapid speed of transactions and a high level of anonymity, it is easier to move funds to foreign jurisdiction through crypto -rhizas, Austrac noted.