Crypto used as a deposit: what to ask

People search “cryptocurrency property deposit AML” when a conveyancer is told the deposit will come from cryptocurrency and is unsure what the file should record. Checked against AUSTRAC's real estate risk indicators on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. How a bank account sits on a real estate file is bank account verification for real estate. The sector map is /tranche-2.

What will actually reach the trust account

Cryptocurrency property deposit AML questions start with the payment, not with the coin. The trust account receives Australian dollars from an account, or it does not. Ask whose account that will be, and whether that person is the purchaser. A friend who will 'send the coin' is a third-party payer until you have a name the program can use.

Some files have no crypto in them at all. A purchaser who says the price will come from their own bank account does not need a coin questionnaire because a blog mentioned deposits. The program sets the questions. This page only stops the wrong ones.

• Ask for the paying account. The name on the account that will pay the trust account is the fact. A wallet nickname is not.
• Ask who bought the coin, if crypto is really in the chain. A gap with no name is an escalation under the program, not a blank you fill with a guess.
• Do not map the conversion. How to move from a coin to a clean-looking transfer is not a question you put to the client, and not one this page will answer.
• Keep international transfers separate. If value is instructed across a border, that may be an IFTI question on its own page. It is not this deposit note.

Questions worth asking, and ones to drop

Where the crypto-deposit page stops

This page is the question set for a deposit. It is not the international funds transfer report. That sits on IFTI for property firms. This page does not trace wallets and it does not describe a conversion.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. A conversation about a crypto deposit is not included in the firm suite, and neither is a wallet review. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not trace a wallet for you, or tell a client how to convert crypto so the deposit looks ordinary.

Frequently Asked Questions