The Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg will introduce his own private member’s bill to regulate Australia’s rapidly developing cryptocurrency sector. The proposed bill will include new rules which would see Chinese banks disclose data on the use of China’s digital e-Yuan currency to Australian regulators.
Released on Monday, 19 September 2022, the draft bill follows the recommendations made by the Senate committee, which Bragg chaired last year before the election. The bill will include a licensing regime for local crypto exchanges, custody requirements for digital assets, and new rules for firms looking to issue stablecoins. Australia’s crypto industry has been calling for increased regulation for some time to improve legislative certainty and consumer trust. Particularly as the industry has seen the proliferation of cryptocurrency scams on social media platforms like Facebook (Meta) and Twitter.
As the cryptocurrency space continues to develop in Australia, Australian regulatory bodies, stakeholders, industry experts, and MPs providing clarity (even as the cryptocurrency market continues in the "bear run") around regulation, aligns with regulatory developments in other countries like the UK, and the US.
Currently, companies involved in the cryptocurrency industry are very loosely regulated. An exchange, which allows users to buy and sell digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ether, or Ada are only required to collect customer data for financial intelligence watchdog AUSTRAC and follow the general laws of the Corporations Act.
Under new regulations proposed by Bragg this would change, with the introduction of a new licensing regime similar to the one used to regulate market operators like the ASX. This would include minimum capital requirements, better monitoring of user activity, segregation of customer funds, stronger cybersecurity requirements, and regular disclosures to government agencies.
Copy of the full proposed bill is in the below link.
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