Travel Rule

As an AUSTRAC regulated entity, HardBlock is obliged to comply with all regulations. As of the 1st July 2026, HardBlock is required to implement the travel rule.

Specifics of the travel rule can be found on AUSTRAC's website here. In short, as the Bitcoin in your HardBlock is considered a custodial wallet, we have obligations when users send from their HardBlock account to other custodial wallets, including providing information which will allow the transaction to be traced. Sending to non-custodial wallets can continue without the requirement for sending travel rule information.

We have chosen to cease supporting Bitcoin withdrawals to custodial wallets. We understand that this makes our application less user friendly, but we believe this was the best option to keep our business operations aligned to our values, which are to help our customers save for the long term. The best way to do this is to save with the hardest money ever created, Bitcoin, in a wallet that you control. Not your keys, not your coins.

Here are some examples of sending from your HardBlock account to another custodial wallet:

• Sending bitcoin from your HardBlock account to another custodial bitcoin exchange account
• Sending bitcoin from your HardBlock account to a custodial service that uses bitcoin, such as a staking or gambling platform
• Sending bitcoin directly to a merchant to buy a good or service using bitcoin, where that merchant hosts their bitcoin wallet in a custodial service rather than self-custody

If you currently use your HardBlock account to conduct transactions similar to the above, then you will now need to send bitcoin to a self-custodial wallet first, before sending it on to such services.

If you are unsure what bitcoin self-custody is or how to get started, check out our Learn article here: https://learn.hardblock.com.au/how-do-i-secure-my-bitcoin/.

As a general rule of thumb, if you do not personally hold the private key for the intended destination of bitcoin sent out of your HardBlock account, then it is not self-custodial.

There are some edge-cases and nuances, but generally, not your keys = not your coins.

Sending to a custodial address from your HardBlock account is a violation of our Terms of Service and may see your account closed down. Please contact us if you are unsure, we're always happy to help.

For those users wishing to buy Bitcoin and withdraw to your own wallet (ie, to self-custody), you will notice minimal changes. You will simply see a requirement to attest that you control the keys to the wallet you are withdrawing to. Ideally, you avoid address reuse and use a unique address generated from your self-custodial wallet each time. However, if absolutely desired, you can still re-use a self-custodial address that has been used in HardBlock before.

Lightning sends present a more technical challenge. Our initial implementation will support sending to limited wallets, which include our fellow Australian Bitcoin company, Wallet of Satoshi, as well as Phoenix wallet, and Alby. All of these wallets use non-custodial lightning implementations.

If there is another non-custodial lightning wallet that you would like us to support, please email us (support@hardblock.com.au) and we will do our best to include it in future development. If you host your own lightning node for the purposes of self-custodial lightning and would like to make withdrawals there, please also get in touch.

For further clarification, please refer to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our support email anytime.