Australian crypto exchanges have praised plans from the Australian Treasury to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges below pre-existing monetary companies licensing measures.
In an Oct. 16 session paper, the Treasury outlined a new suite of proposed rules that suggest regulating cryptocurrency exchanges below present monetary companies guidelines in addition to introducing a wealth of new pointers for all Australian companies dealing in digital property.
Speaking on the Australian Financial Reviews Crypto Summit event on Oct. 16, Australian Treasury Assistant Stephen Jones mentioned the new regime was targeted on three main areas: offering a framework for business progress and innovation, permitting regulatory certainty to crypto service suppliers, and making certain that on a regular basis customers and their property stay protected.
Australian crypto exchanges can be regulated below pre-existing monetary companies legal guidelines, suggests the most recent session paper from the Treasury. https://t.co/V1Dr8DeZF8
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 16, 2023
Caroline Bowler, CEO of BTC Markets, advised Cointelegraph she was happy to have reached a new “key milestone” within the regulatory course of and regarded the principles as a optimistic development for the broader crypto business in Australia.
“It’s a great next step for the Australian economy. Digital assets are so clearly the future of financial services. It is imperative that the country keeps pace with our international peers with a robust regulatory framework,” mentioned Bowler.
Similarly, Adrian Przelozny, CEO of Independent Reserve, counseled the federal authorities on its suggestions to introduce stronger regulation and coverage change, telling Cointelegraph that these new proposals may assist restore belief within the crypto sector.
“We firmly believe these changes will drive investment, provide certainty to the sector, and ultimately, increase consumer protection.”
Adam Percy, normal counsel of Swyftx, additionally agreed with a lot of the Treasury’s proposals, saying the first focus ought to be making certain that crypto buyers can safely entry the advantages of blockchain expertise whereas nonetheless permitting room for innovation.
However, Jonathon Miller, managing director of Kraken Australia, advised Cointelegraph he was involved that the new guidelines could be stuffing the crypto business right into a TradFi-shaped field.
“Australia is now in the unfortunate situation where our regulation has taken a very long time, so we’re taking the approach of shoehorning crypto into existing financial services regulation,” mentioned Miller.
Related: Rejection of crypto bill exposes Aussies to ‘unregulated market’ — Senator Bragg
Still, Miller admitted that the session paper was a step in the proper route, particularly for offering much-needed regulatory certainty for crypto firms working on Australian soil.
“We’re behind our global peers when it comes to implementing a crypto framework, so I appreciate the need to have something in place locally to provide certainty to platforms like ours,” he added.
Liam Hennessy, a accomplice at Clyde & Co — a global legislation agency that has been helping within the session course of — mentioned that the latest proposal from the Treasury “makes sense” for the Australian crypto business.
Hennessy defined that the new guidelines will assist the nation catch up to jurisdictions such because the European Union, that are additional alongside of their efforts to higher regulate crypto.
Additionally, he mentioned the Australian Financial Services licensing regime might be fairly sophisticated, which means that native cryptocurrency exchanges and digital asset service suppliers will want to start getting ready their functions now.
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