Australia’s new government is finally signaling its stance on crypto regulation
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said his government will improve the way Australia’s system manages crypto assets and provide greater protection for consumers.
Three months after being elected to power, the Australian Labor Party has finally broken its silence on how it plans to approach crypto regulation.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a “token mapping” exercise, which was one of 12 recommendations in a Senate inquiry report last year on “Australia as a technology and financial centre”. The report was warmly welcomed by the industry, which has been waiting anxiously to see if the ALP government would embrace it.
Aimed to be completed before the end of the year, the token mapping exercise is expected to help “identify how cryptoassets and related services should be regulated” and inform future regulatory decisions.
Cointelegraph understands that Treasury will also undertake work on some of the other recommendations in the near future, including a licensing framework for cryptoasset service providers dealing in cryptoasset non-financial products, appropriate requirements to safeguard consumer cryptoassets, and a review of the decentralized autonomous the organization (DAO) company style structure.
In a statement from Treasurer Jim Chalmers, along with Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones, and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Finance Dr Andrew Leigh, the Albanian-led government says it wants to govern on a “largely unregulated ” crypto sector.
As it is now, the crypto sector is largely unregulated and we need to do some work to find the balance so that we can embrace new and innovative technologies
The statement noted that more than one million taxpayers have interacted with the crypto ecosystem since 2018, and yet “regulation is struggling to keep pace and adapt to the crypto asset sector.”
The politicians claimed that the previous Liberal-led government had previously “doubled down” on regulation of crypto assets through crypto secondary service providers “without first understanding what was being regulated.”
The Albanian government is taking a more serious approach to finding out what is in the ecosystem and what risks need to be addressed first.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Michael Bacina, partner at Piper Alderman, said the token mapping exercise will be an “important step” in bridging the significant education gap within regulators and policymakers.
“Australia is punching above its weight in blockchain right now, but we’ve seen regulatory uncertainty cause businesses to leave Australia,” he said.
“A sensible mapping exercise that helps regulators and policy makers understand in depth the activities they wish to regulate and how technology interfaces with those activities should help regulation be fit for purpose and both support innovation and jobs in Australia while protecting consumers,” he added .
Caroline Bowler, CEO of BTC Markets said the move reflects calls from many in the industry for “proportionate, appropriate regulation” of the sector.
“Additional benefits of token mapping are many. It will provide greater clarity to crypto investors; help companies develop their own blockchain-based innovations; provide guidance to digital currency exchanges; as well as help regulators design an appropriate regulatory regime.” she said.
However, Dr Aaron Lane, senior lecturer at the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, believes the token mapping exercise is something of a delaying tactic by the Labor government:
Progress is progress – but it is disappointing that we are no longer on the road to greater regulatory certainty for the industry and greater protection for consumers.
“Unfortunately they have needed to buy time with a token mapping exercise to allow them to get up to speed,” he added.
Token mapping was a recommendation of the Senate Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre. pic.twitter.com/LmfSWG8Zn3
— Aaron Lane (@AMLane_au) 21 August 2022
