Australia’s financial regulator is seeking to require crypto firms — beyond just crypto exchanges — to be licensed under the country’s corporations law.
The Australian Financial Review reported today, citing Australian Securities and Investments Commission Commissioner Alan Kirkland, that ASIC plans to issue an update to “Information Paper 225” by November. The update aims to clarify how certain crypto tokens or products should be treated.
Kirkland said that ASIC considers that most major crypto assets should fall under the scope of the Corporations Act.
Meanwhile, the Australian Treasury released a proposal last year to require crypto exchanges that hold a certain threshold of assets to obtain an Australian Financial Services Licence. The original plan was to release an exposure draft this year, but it remains uncertain if the bill will be introduced before next year's federal election, according to the AFR report.
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The Australian Treasury said at the time that that failures and vulnerabilities of crypto platforms have “increased the need to regulate to protect consumers.”
The Australian authorities have become increasingly cautious of the risks associated with crypto assets. ASIC said last month that it had taken down over 7,300 scam websites since July 2023, 615 of which were associated with cryptocurrency.
Also in August, a ruling in Australia showed that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged that more than half of crypto-related advertisements on Facebook were scams or violated Meta’s policies.
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