James Richardson
Australia’s financial regulator is moving to extend licensing requirements to a broader range of crypto companies, not just crypto exchanges, under the nation’s corporations law.
According to a report from the Australian Financial Review, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) plans to update “Information Paper 225” by November. This update will offer clearer guidelines on how specific crypto tokens or products should be regulated.
ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland mentioned that the agency believes most prominent crypto assets should be governed under the Corporations Act.
In a parallel development, the Australian Treasury proposed last year that crypto exchanges holding a significant amount of assets should be required to obtain an Australian Financial Services Licence. While a draft version of this bill was expected this year, it remains uncertain whether it will be introduced before the federal elections, as per the AFR report.
The Treasury’s proposal was driven by concerns over the growing number of failures and vulnerabilities in crypto platforms, highlighting the increased need for regulation to safeguard consumers.
Australian authorities have grown more cautious about the risks tied to cryptocurrency. Last month, ASIC announced that it had taken down over 7,300 scam websites since July 2023, 615 of which were linked to crypto-related activities.
In August, an Australian court ruling revealed that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found over half of crypto ads on Facebook were either scams or breached Meta’s advertising policies.
