Australian Treasury proposes to regulate crypto exchanges, not tokens
The Australian federal government is charging forward with plans to regulate the digital asset sector at the exchange level, and may soon require cryptocurrency exchanges to hold a financial services license issued by the local financial regulator.
In the newly-unveiled “Regulating digital asset platforms” consultation paper, released on Oct. 16, the Australian Treasury said that the new regulatory framework aims to address consumer harms while still supporting innovation in the digital asset sector.
The core theme of the new regulatory framework is that it aims to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers instead of individual cryptocurrencies or tokens themselves. Additionally, the consultation paper explained that it will regulate crypto exchanges under pre-existing financial services laws, instead of crafting new crypto-specific rules.
The proposal has seen a mixed reaction from crypto exchanges operating in Australia.
Australian crypto exchange Swyftx's general counsel Adam Percy called the proposal "thoughtful" and agreed that "the primary focus should be to make sure cryptocurrency users can access blockchain technology with appropriate protections and that there’s room for innovation."
Jonathon Miller, the Director of Kraken Australia, however, expressed his disappointment at the latest developments, saying that the consultation paper was essentially “shoehorning" crypto in existing financial services regulation.
"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," Miller said. "We’re behind our global peers when it comes to implementing a crypto framework, so I
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