Australia plans to release a draft bill that covers the licensing and custody rules of cryptocurrency service providers by 2024, according to a consultation paper published by the Australian Treasury on Monday.
See related article: Weekly Market Wrap: Bitcoin falls below US$27,000 following CPI and Israeli conflict
Fast Facts
- The new regime will require crypto exchanges to obtain an Australian financial services license if any one client has held at least AU$1,500 (US$946) at any time, or if the platform’s total assets ever exceeded AU$5 million (US$3.15 million).
- “[This] approach creates ample opportunities for the regulation to ignore the nuances of the technology (for example, unique services like NFTs),” said Jonathon Miller, managing director of Kraken Australia. “I’m hopeful that we can work collaboratively with the Government to make sure we don’t snuff out the benefits of future innovations in crypto that might fall outside the conventional ‘financial services’ box.”
- The treasury seeks to receive feedback on the draft bill by December 1, 2023.
- Crypto exchanges will have 12 months to earn licenses and become compliant with the new regime after enactment.
See related article: Digital frontiers: Alex Tapscott on Web3, AI, and banking’s new dance