🪦 The exchange graveyard
We track failures as carefully as we track fees — because "which exchange won't lose my money?" is the question that actually matters. These Australian platforms are gone. Each one is a lesson in why we check licensing and custody before anything else.
Entered liquidation December 2021; customers faced lengthy recovery process.
Collapsed 2020 owing customers ~A$10M; AUSTRAC deregistered.
Shut down after regulatory scrutiny of guaranteed-return marketing.
What the failures have in common
In almost every collapse, customer crypto sat in company-controlled wallets and customer dollars in company bank accounts — so when the company failed, its customers were unsecured creditors queuing behind the lawyers. Platforms that segregate client assets fail differently, and less finally.
Withdrawal "processing delays", support going quiet, yield offers that outran the market — administrators' reports show these signs appearing months before the doors shut. A platform slowing your withdrawal is telling you something; believe it the first time.
Most of these platforms operated when AUSTRAC registration was the only gate. From April 2027 the AFSL regime adds capital, custody and conduct obligations — the exact failure modes this page documents are what the new law is written against.
The practical defence hasn't changed: keep meaningful long-term holdings in a wallet you control, keep only trading balances on any platform, and treat withdrawal friction as a fire alarm. Our security lessons cover the how.
Records compiled from administrators' reports, AUSTRAC actions and contemporaneous reporting.