How to Buy Crypto Safely in Australia

Last checked 29 September 2026

General information: This guide is general information only. It is not financial, legal or tax advice.

Editorial note: This guide contains no affiliate links. EatCryptoPie does not rank or recommend crypto exchanges or crypto assets in this article.

If you are trying to work out how to buy crypto safely in Australia, the buying itself is not particularly difficult. The harder part is knowing what you are signing up for, what you are paying, who is holding your assets, and what can go wrong.

Crypto remains a high-risk and volatile asset class. ASIC’s Moneysmart says people buying crypto should be prepared for the possibility of losing everything they invest. That is a more useful starting point than trying to pick the “right” coin or the “best” exchange.

Before you buy anything

The first question is not which crypto to buy. It is whether you understand what you are buying and why.

Crypto prices can move sharply, transactions can be difficult or impossible to reverse, and consumer protections vary depending on the product and provider.

Australia’s new Digital Assets Framework is due to commence on 8 April 2027. The Act also contains a six-month transition period for the new digital-asset-platform and tokenised-custody-platform rules. That means you should not assume a platform is licensed under the new ASIC regime simply because the commencement date has passed. Check the provider’s actual regulatory status at the time you use it.

Pressure is itself a warning sign. An unexpected message, a celebrity endorsement, a promise of guaranteed returns, or someone insisting that you need to act immediately should make you more cautious, not less.

Step 1: Check the platform before opening an account

Australia now has a public AUSTRAC Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) register. AUSTRAC says businesses providing covered virtual-asset services in Australia must be registered before offering those services.

Before opening an account, check the legal business behind the platform in the AUSTRAC VASP register.

The register can be searched by legal or trading name, or by a full ACN, ABN or ARBN. A practical way to check the correct entity is to find the provider’s legal name and business number in its terms, footer or company details, then search those details rather than relying on the brand name alone.

Do not stop at registration. Check the fees and spreads, withdrawal rules, custody arrangements, security options, customer-support process, and whether you can export a complete transaction history.

What AUSTRAC registration tells you

The provider is registered with AUSTRAC under Australia’s anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing regime and is subject to AUSTRAC oversight. AUSTRAC assesses registration risk in relation to money laundering, terrorism financing and other serious crime, and can refuse, suspend, cancel or refuse to renew registrations. It can also publish registration actions.

What AUSTRAC registration does not tell you

AUSTRAC registration is not itself an assessment of whether a provider is financially sound, how it holds customer assets, whether it can fail or be hacked, or whether it holds an Australian Financial Services licence.

Step 2: Make sure you are on the real website or app

Fake crypto websites and apps can look convincing. Moneysmart and Scamwatch warn about fake trading platforms, impersonated providers, phishing pages, fake apps and social-media promotions that direct people to fraudulent services.

Avoid signing up from a link sent in an unsolicited text message, email, social-media post or direct message. Find the provider independently, check the domain carefully, and be suspicious if someone contacts you first and then directs you to a trading platform.

A professional-looking site is not evidence that the business behind it is genuine.

Step 3: Secure the account before you put money into it

Do the security work before funding the account.

Use a unique password or passphrase that is not used anywhere else, and turn on multi-factor authentication.

The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre recommends using multi-factor authentication and, where available, stronger phishing-resistant options such as passkeys or security keys.

A reputable password manager can help generate and store unique credentials. Protect the password manager itself with strong authentication.

Your email account matters too. If someone takes over the email linked to a crypto account, password resets and security notifications can become another route into the account.

Step 4: Understand what the purchase will actually cost

Before confirming a purchase, look beyond the headline price.

A platform may charge trading fees, deposit or withdrawal fees, and a spread between its quoted buying and selling prices. Crypto transfers can also have network fees.

The useful number is the total amount you pay and the amount of crypto you actually receive.

Do not assume that a button labelled “instant buy”, “simple buy” or similar is necessarily the cheapest method. Read the confirmation screen before approving the transaction.

There is no sensible universal amount that beginners should start with. If you decide to buy crypto, the relevant risk principle is simpler: do not put in money you cannot afford to lose.

Step 5: Check the asset and transaction before confirming

This guide deliberately does not tell you which cryptocurrency to buy.

Before confirming a transaction:

make sure the asset name and ticker are the ones you intended;
review the amount;
check the fees;
check what you will receive; and
make sure you understand what happens after the purchase.

If a platform offers several order types, learn the difference before using them rather than assuming the default is best for you.

There is no need to rush because a price is moving. FOMO is not a security procedure.

Step 6: Start keeping records with the first transaction

Do not wait until tax time to reconstruct what happened.

The Australian Taxation Office says you should keep records for each crypto asset and transaction. These include receipts when you buy, transfer or dispose of crypto; transaction dates; what each transaction was for and who the other party was; exchange records; the Australian-dollar value at the time of the transaction; relevant agent, accountant and legal costs; digital wallet records; and software costs connected with managing your tax affairs.

The ATO also recommends exporting your transaction history regularly and setting a reminder to do it at least every three months.

That means your record-keeping system should begin with the first purchase, not after the portfolio becomes complicated.

Step 7: Decide who will hold the keys

After buying crypto, you may leave assets in the custody of a platform or transfer them to a wallet you control.

Neither option makes risk disappear; it changes the type of risk.

With platform custody, the provider controls the relevant keys on your behalf. That can be simpler for a beginner, but it exposes you to the provider’s security, operational and financial risks.

With self-custody, you control the keys yourself. That removes some reliance on a platform, but it also means losing a recovery phrase, sending assets to the wrong address, using the wrong network, installing compromised software, or approving a malicious transaction can become your responsibility.

If you transfer crypto to a wallet you control, check both the receiving address and the network before confirming the transfer. Where practical, consider sending a small test transfer before moving a larger balance so you can confirm that the destination and network are correct.

Moneysmart notes that hardware wallets can make it harder for attackers to access private keys, but that does not make every transaction or user action safe.

What self-custody can do

Reduce your dependence on a third party to hold and control your crypto.

What it does not protect you from

Revealing your recovery phrase, approving a malicious transaction, sending crypto to the wrong address or network, installing compromised software, or being manipulated into transferring funds yourself.

Step 8: Treat unexpected crypto contact as suspicious

A large part of buying safely happens away from the buy button.

Moneysmart and Scamwatch identify fake platforms, impersonated providers, phishing, fake giveaways, bogus celebrity endorsements, high-pressure approaches and promises of guaranteed returns as common warning signs.

Moneysmart says an exchange or platform will never ask you to share your password. Never give a recovery phrase to anyone claiming to be platform staff, police, a regulator, a lawyer, a charity or a recovery service.

Be particularly careful after a loss. Scamwatch warns that money-recovery scammers may pose as government agencies, lawyers, law-enforcement officers or charities and claim they can recover stolen cryptocurrency for a fee. They may also ask for remote access to your device.

Do not give an unsolicited caller or stranger remote access to your computer or phone, even if they claim to represent a legitimate organisation.

A first-purchase safety check

Before sending money, confirm that:

you found the platform independently and checked the correct legal business;
you checked its AUSTRAC VASP registration where applicable;
you understand the fees, spread, withdrawal rules and custody arrangement;
your account and email use unique credentials and MFA;
nobody contacted you unexpectedly or pressured you into making the purchase;
you checked the asset, amount and total cost before confirming;
you have started keeping transaction records; and
you understand where the crypto will be held after purchase.

If something goes wrong

Act quickly rather than trying to fix a suspicious situation by sending more money.

If you have sent money or crypto in a suspected scam:

stop sending more;
contact your bank, card provider, financial institution or crypto platform immediately;
secure affected accounts and change compromised credentials;
contact IDCARE for free identity and cyber support if personal information or accounts may be affected;
report the scam to Scamwatch; and
report cybercrime through ReportCyber where appropriate.

Be suspicious of anyone who contacts you afterwards offering to recover lost crypto for a fee.

The bottom line

Buying crypto safely is less about finding a supposedly perfect exchange or choosing the “right” coin than it is about slowing the process down.

Check who you are dealing with. Understand the costs. Secure the account before putting money into it. Keep records from the beginning. Know who controls the keys. Treat urgency, guaranteed returns and unsolicited advice as reasons to investigate further.

Crypto can still lose value even when every security step is followed correctly. Security can reduce avoidable mistakes and fraud; it cannot remove investment risk.

Sources

Last checked 29 September 2026.

How to Buy Crypto Safely in Australia: A Beginner’s Guide