Getting this right means either investing heavily in payment infrastructure or finding a partner who has already solved it.
Building a from scratch for the Australian market involves several non-trivial components.
AUSTRAC registration: You’ll need to register as a Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) with AUSTRAC. It requires demonstrating robust AML/CTF programs, appointing a compliance officer, implementing transaction monitoring systems, and maintaining ongoing reporting obligations. The process can take months and requires legal counsel familiar with Australian financial regulations.
KYC infrastructure: You’ll need identity verification that meets AUSTRAC standards. This means integrating document verification, liveness checks, sanctions screening, and ongoing monitoring. Building this in-house means procuring identity verification APIs, managing data storage in compliance with Australian privacy law, and handling edge cases like foreign passport holders or users with non-standard documentation.
Payment processing: Supporting AUD means integrating with local payment rails: NPP/PayID for real-time bank transfers, card processing via local acquirers, and potentially Apple Pay and Google Pay. Each payment method has its own integration, fraud profile, and settlement timeline. Card payments alone involve PCI-DSS compliance, chargeback management, and acquirer relationships.
Liquidity and execution: You need reliable access to crypto liquidity — either by running your own order books or connecting to liquidity providers. This means managing exchange risk, ensuring competitive spreads, and handling blockchain delivery across multiple networks. Each supported chain adds operational complexity.
Customer support: Fiat-to-crypto transactions fail more often than people expect. Cards get declined, bank transfers get delayed, KYC documents get rejected. You need a support operation that can handle these issues without destroying user trust.
Conservatively, you’re looking at 6-12 months of development time and a dedicated team of compliance, payments, and blockchain engineers. For most companies, this isn’t where competitive advantage lies.
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