Key Takeaways:
- According to Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the goal is to stay ahead of the curve with advancements and protect customers.
- The Treasury will emphasize “token mapping” work in 2022 as the first stage in a reform program.
Work on crypto asset reforms has begun, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones, and Minister for Competition, Charities, and Treasury Andrew Leigh.
According to Chalmers, Jones, and Leigh, “The Albanese administration will reform how Australia’s regulatory framework controls crypto assets, to keep up with advances and give more protections for consumers.” Since 2018, the Australian Taxation Office believes that over a million taxpayers have engaged with the network of digital assets.
A “token mapping” effort was one of the 12 recommendations in a senate inquiry report from last year on “Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre,” which Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed. The industry, eager to see if the ALP administration would accept the report, warmly welcomed it.
The token mapping initiative, which is planned to be finished before the year is through, aims to “determine how crypto assets and related services should be governed” and guide future regulatory choices.
The decision seems to have turned into a political matter because it comes three months after the Albanese government defeated Scott Morrison’s previous labor cabinet.
The “previous administration dabbled in crypto asset regulation but prematurely rushed straight to options without first comprehending what was being regulated,” according to Chalmer.
Australians are going through a digital transformation in every area of the business. Still, the regulatory environment is having a hard time keeping up and adapting to the crypto asset market.
More surprisingly, according to a YouGov study commissioned by Swyftx, 25% of all Australians were cryptocurrency owners, making Australia the country with the largest percentage of owners in the developed world.
The token mapping endeavor will be an “essential step” in closing the enormous knowledge gap between regulators and policymakers, according to Michael Bacina, a partner at Piper Alderman.
In the current state of blockchain, “Australia punches above its weight, but we have seen regulatory uncertainty lead to enterprises leaving Australia,” he said.
The goal is to find significant legislative loopholes, advance the licensing framework project, examine creative organizational designs, examine the custody responsibilities of third-party custodians of cryptocurrency assets, and increase consumer protections.
Soon, there will be a public consultation document on token mapping.
