Crypto and fintech companies in Australia: AUSTRAC registration and your resident director

A crypto business serving Australian customers must enrol with AUSTRAC and, for most virtual asset services, also be registered before it starts. AUSTRAC now uses the term "virtual asset service provider" (VASP) in place of "digital currency exchange", and since the 2024 reforms the regulated services go well beyond swapping crypto for dollars. Separately, many digital asset products are financial products in ASIC's view, which raises the licensing question. For an overseas group, the Australian company also needs a resident director, and that director becomes one of the key personnel AUSTRAC assesses.

What AUSTRAC now regulates

Exchanging virtual assets for money has been regulated since 2018. AUSTRAC's virtual asset guidance lists the services now in scope:

Some obligations for the newer services were deferred or staged under transitional rules. Transfers involving virtual assets also carry separate "travel rule" obligations.

A "virtual asset" is a digital representation of value that can be transferred, stored or traded electronically and works as a medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account or investment. Governance tokens and some NFTs are in; purely collectible NFTs and central bank digital currencies are out.

The services must have a geographical link to Australia. A business set up offshore that deals with Australian customers should take advice on whether it is caught.

Enrolment, then registration

Every business providing a designated service must enrol within 28 days of starting. VASPs and remitters go further: they must also apply for registration through AUSTRAC Online, and under AUSTRAC's registration guidance they can't start providing those services until the registration is approved.

• Timing. AUSTRAC may take up to 90 days to assess an application. If it asks for more information, the 90 days restart from when you provide it.
• Outcome. Approved, approved with conditions, or refused.
• Transitional window. Providers of the newly regulated virtual asset services that applied before 29 July 2026 could keep operating until AUSTRAC decides. That window has closed for new applicants.
• Existing DCE registrations carry over, but the details must be updated before the next scheduled renewal.

Build the 90 days, plus time for information requests, into your launch plan. An Australian company formed today can't go live with exchange or custody services the week after incorporation.

Key personnel: where the director comes in

AUSTRAC defines key personnel as individuals with primary responsibility for governance and executive decisions, or who make or take part in decisions affecting the whole or a substantial part of the business. Directors normally fall within that.

The VASP registration questions ask, for key personnel:

• whether they have managed or owned another provider of similar services, or applied for VASP or remitter registration before, and the outcome;
• whether they hold or are seeking financial sector licences in any country;
• what training they've had in the past 12 months on the registrable services;
• whether they have been charged or convicted of offences involving money laundering, terrorism financing, fraud, scams or other serious offences;
• whether they have been found to contravene the Act, or faced proceedings with adverse findings about competence, honesty or integrity;
• and what steps the business took to establish all of this.

When assessing an application, AUSTRAC weighs the business's readiness to comply, including its AML/CTF resourcing and the experience of its key personnel. After registration, changes to beneficial owners or key personnel must be reported within 14 days. Appointing or replacing your resident director is one of those changes.

The AFSL question, in general terms

AUSTRAC registration doesn't authorise financial services. ASIC updated INFO 225 in October 2025 to explain how existing financial services law applies to digital assets, and ASIC says its position that the financial product definitions are broad and technology-neutral was recently confirmed in the High Court. ASIC ran a sector-wide no-action position while firms applied for or varied Australian financial services licences; it ended on 30 September 2026.

A further framework is coming. The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 introduces digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms, with the new laws commencing on 8 April 2027, and ASIC is consulting on implementing guidance.

We don't advise on whether your product is a financial product or which licence you need. That question belongs with a financial services licensing lawyer, and it should be answered before you choose your Australian structure.

What a resident director will want to see

A crypto or fintech appointment carries more personal exposure for the director than a dormant holding company. Directors owe the same duties in every company, but here the director is also named to AUSTRAC as key personnel. Expect any careful director to ask for:

• the ML/TF risk assessment and AML/CTF policies, and who the AML/CTF compliance officer is;
• the AUSTRAC enrolment and registration status, and the AFSL position or the legal advice on it;
• how customer assets are held and segregated, and who controls the keys;
• the group structure up to the individuals, with source of funds for the founders and investors;
• banking arrangements, including which institution holds customer money and who the signatories are;
• D&O insurance that responds to regulatory investigations.

At AG Resident Directorship, every company goes through acceptance checks covering identity and ownership, what the business does, where it operates and how it is funded. We decline structures that hide ownership and any arrangement in which the director would sign without information. We tell applicants plainly if we're not the right fit.

Fintech beyond crypto

Payments and remittance businesses face the same enrol-and-register path when they provide remittance services. Lending, payments and investment products raise their own licensing questions with ASIC. Startups raising money from Australian investors should also read startups raising capital. The way the 2026 reforms apply to director and registered office services themselves is explained in AML/CTF reforms for company services.

General information only, current at 27 October 2026, and not legal, financial services or tax advice. Get specialist advice on AUSTRAC and ASIC licensing before you launch.

General information about Australian law and practice, not legal or tax advice for your circumstances. Check the official sources, or ask your adviser, before you act.