Government Imposes Cash Withdrawal Limits on Crypto ATMs in Australia in New Scam Crackdown Attempt

The Australian government’s financial intelligence agency has imposed $5,000 cash withdrawal limits on crypto ATMs.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) adopted the new rules and refused to renew the registration of one crypto ATM operator, Harro’s Empires, after an agency task force flagged “worrying trends” in digital asset ATM compliance, according to a new press release.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas says the task force noticed customer behavior that resembled scams, fraud and other illicit activity.

“The task force has uncovered disturbing trends, which have confirmed that cryptocurrency ATMs are being used for scam/fraud-related transactions. Surprisingly, the 60 to 70 age group was identified as one of the most prolific users of crypto ATMs in Australia.

It is a huge concern that people in this demographic are overrepresented as customers using cash to purchase cryptocurrency and, as evidence suggests, that a large number of 60-70 year old users are victims of scam activity.”

AUSTRAC’s Cryptocurrency Task Force notes that 60-70-year-olds accounted for 29% of all crypto ATM transactions by value.

Australia had only 23 operating crypto ATMs in 2019 and 60 in 2022, but now has more than 1,800. Nearly 150,000 transactions occur annually across those machines, 99% of which are cash deposits to purchase crypto like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and the stablecoin USDT, according to AUSTRAC.

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