Australian senator introduces private bill to speed up crypto regulation
A new bill has been presented to the Australian Parliament that proposes regulations for the provision of cryptocurrency services in the country.
Senator Andrew Bragg filed a private senators’ bill titled the Digital Assets Bill 2023 to “protect consumers and promote investors”, which includes regulatory recommendations for stablecoins, licensing of exchanges and custody requirements.
Proposed regulatory changes are usually introduced by Australian ministers. However, as the Parliamentary Education Office stipulates, MPs can introduce private members’ or private senators’ bills, which can take months or years to go through parliament.
Providing further information for the submission of the private bill, Bragg hit out at the current Labor government for not following through on 12 recommendations related to cryptocurrency regulation introduced by the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Center in October 2021.
The senator also added that Australian consumers had been exposed to industry-wide incidents such as the collapse of FTX by the failure of the Australian Government to provide regulatory clarity to the sector.
“Australia can be a hub for digital assets while protecting consumers of digital assets. But we must act now.”
The law looks to provide a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchanges, custodian services and stablecoin issuers that both protects consumers and promotes investment.
It also appears to provide guidelines for the reporting of information by authorized deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) for the issuance and control of central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Related: Australia Introduces Classification for Crypto Assets
If passed, the bill would require a person or business to hold a license issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) or an overseas license to operate a cryptocurrency exchange. This will also apply to cryptocurrency custodian services and stablecoin issuers in Australia.
The bill also sets out a number of obligations and requirements for exchanges, custodian services and stablecoin issuers. This ranges from capital or minimum reserve requirements, segregation of customer funds, reporting on customer stock as well as auditing, insurance and information arrangements.
Public consultation is currently underway in Australia on the classification of cryptocurrencies and various digital assets, services and platforms. The ‘token mapping’ consultation document was released in February, outlining basic definitions for the cryptocurrency sector.
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