The new Australian government is ready to start work on improving the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The Australian Treasurer said his government will improve the way crypto assets are managed in the Australian system and provide stronger consumer protection.
Three months after being elected to power, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has finally spoken out about how it plans to approach cryptocurrency regulation, according to Cointelegraph. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a “token mapping” exercise, which was one of 12 recommendations in last year’s Senate investigative report, “Australia as a Technology and Financial Center.” The report was received positively by industry representatives. The token mapping, due before the end of the year, is expected to help “identify how crypto assets and related services should be regulated” and inform future regulatory decisions.
The Treasury will also undertake work on some of the other recommendations in the near future, including a licensing framework for crypto asset service providers dealing in non-financial product crypto assets, appropriate requirements to safeguard the consumer crypto asset custody, and a review of the decentralized autonomous 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 Treasury Andrew Leigh, the government led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it wants to reign in on a “largely unregulated” crypto sector:
“As it stands, the crypto sector is largely unregulated, and we need to do some work to get the balance right so we can embrace new and innovative technologies.”
The statement notes that more than a million taxpayers have interacted with the crypto ecosystem since 2018. Politicians said the previous Liberal-led government previously “dabbled” in crypto asset regulation through crypto secondary service providers “without first understanding what was being regulated:”
“The Albanese Government is taking a more serious approach to working out what is in the ecosystem and what risks need to be looked at first.”
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
