Australia’s regulatory landscape for crypto is due to experience a major shift. March 2026 will see significant updates to AUSTRAC’s AML/CTF program, with a much wider group of Virtual Asset Service providers formally brought under the same oversight that has previously applied to banks and traditional digital currency exchanges.
For exchanges, OTC brokers, custody providers, crypto-to-crypto platforms, token marketplaces, and businesses facilitating virtual asset transfers, they are now classified as ‘reporting entities’ under the AML/CTF Act.
One of the most significant requirements in the AML/CTF programs outlined by AUSTRAC is the obligation to utilize an ongoing transaction monitoring program. Australia’s AML and CTF regulator has been clear in the importance of designated services to implement a service that will monitor the activity flowing through their platform, understand the risk profile of the wallets they interact with, and detect suspicious behaviours as it happens. This includes
- transfers to high-risk counterparties,
- patterns indicative of terror financing,
- movements linked to dark web platforms,
- ransomware,
- or sanctioned actors
as well as newly emerging typologies that are unique to the crypto ecosystem.
For small and mid-sized VASPs, this shift could feel overwhelming. Transaction monitoring is more than simply watching wallet movements on a blockchain explorer, and AUSTRAC expects businesses to take a structured, risk-based approach. Therefore, your transaction monitoring methodology and system must be able to recognise unusual behaviour, escalate suspicious activity internally, effectively document their findings, and provide supporting data for Suspicious Activity Reports should they be required.
For lean crypto company teams that juggle product development, user growth, customer success, and security, compliance to ever-changing regulation, can feel like a tedious burden without an easy solution.
This is the pain point Nominis solves; providing a VASP’s compliance teams, to ease efforts to remain compliant with regulations.
While AUSTRAC’s guidelines encourage the use of analytic tools to support transaction monitoring and investigations: Nominis fulfills this exact requirement.
Nominis continuously monitors activity on 70+ major chains such as Bitcoin, Tron and Ethereum, the same networks commonly exploited by criminals, although widely used by legitimate users. Drawing data from our database, boasting over one billion clustered addresses, Nominis is able to successfully recognise when illicit actors are attempting to disguise unlawful movement of funds. In fact, this the largest crypto terror financing database globally.
When a wallet associated with scams, darknet markets, sanctioned entities, mixers, or flagged OTC brokers interacts with a business’ ecosystem, Nominis detects it instantly, and alerts you without delay. The combination of on-chain, off-chain (deep web, open web and dark web data) and behavioral signals, makes the Nominis database one of the most comprehensive in the industry. This is how in 2024 Nominis was able to find 10B USD in illicit transactions that nobody else was able to spot. All this makes it significantly easier for compliance officers to assess the risk, decide if a SAR is warranted, and ensure the business is fulfilling AUSTRAC’s transaction monitoring obligations. Compliance teams are able to receive the entire money trail, and any off-chain intelligence, via a single API or one click.
A key bonus of the Nominis platform is that it doesn’t only tell you the risk level of a wallet today, it also includes the intelligence associated with it and preserves a snapshot of the risk rating from the moment you first interacted with it. This matters more than VASPs realise. Wallets change over time, so a completely clean address in early 2025 might later interact with a darknet marketplace, or start receiving funds from a sanctioned mixer. Without historical context, a regulator could look at today’s “critical” risk score and ask why the compliance officer failed to take appropriate action. With Nominis, you have the evidence immediately available. Justification of your decisions to AUSTRAC, and demonstration that your actions were appropriate based on available information at the time, is an immensely underrated element of transaction monitoring compliance.
As a company, we welcome the reforms coming into effect in 2026, which will place Australia alongside global leaders such as FinCEN, MAS, and VARA, in raising the bar for crypto AML / CTF standards. The businesses that take transaction monitoring seriously today will be the ones best positioned to maintain banking relationships and operate without disruption once the rules are fully enforced. Those that delay may find themselves scrambling to meet obligations, or worse, facing penalties, reputational damage, or interruptions to their services.
For VASPs that want to stay ahead of the curve, the solution is straightforward; adopt a monitoring framework that satisfies the new requirements, without slowing down your team. Nominis provides exactly that, with our platform giving SMB crypto companies a practical way to comply with AUSTRAC’s transaction monitoring expectations from day one, without the cost or complexity of enterprise level systems. With automated wallet risk scoring, API availability, continuous monitoring, dark web intelligence, sanctions data and more, it couldn’t be easier to ensure your transaction monitoring compliance.
Australian VASP exploring transaction monitoring platforms?
Book a demo with us - contact@nominis.io
All research content and accompanying reports are provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as professional advice. Accessing these materials does not create any professional relationship or duty of care. Readers are encouraged to consult appropriately qualified professionals for guidance. We uphold the highest standards of accuracy in all the information we provide. For any questions or feedback, please contact us at contact@nominis.io.
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