- Australia proposes crypto licensing rules to boost consumer protection standards.
- New legislation would regulate digital asset platforms like traditional financial services.
- ASIC set to oversee licensing of crypto exchanges and service providers.
Australia is moving to tighten regulation of its crypto sector with new draft legislation that would require crypto exchanges and certain service providers to hold Australian financial services licenses.
The Treasury announced the proposal, which aims to amend the Corporations Act 2001 to include digital asset platforms (DAPs) and tokenized custody platforms (TCPs) as regulated financial products.
Expanding Regulatory Oversight of Crypto Platforms
This change would extend the country’s existing financial regulations to crypto platforms, making them subject to the same rules that govern traditional financial service providers. Specifically, DAPs, including crypto trading platforms and brokerages, and TCPs, which manage tokenized physical assets, would now face a more stringent regulatory framework.
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The proposed legislation focuses on businesses that manage client assets, rather than the digital assets themselves. While crypto assets are already covered by existing laws, the Treasury emphasized that failures in digital asset intermediaries have led to substantial losses for Australian consumers.
The new regulatory approach seeks to address this issue by holding platforms to higher standards of consumer protection.
ASIC, Australia’s primary financial regulator, would oversee the licensing of these platforms under the proposed framework. Currently, crypto exchanges are only required to follow anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations, but the new rules would align them with other financial intermediaries such as investment portfolio operators.
Consultation on the draft legislation is open until October 24, 2025, allowing stakeholders to provide feedback. If passed, the legislation would significantly expand the regulatory landscape for crypto businesses, enhancing protections for investors.
Strengthening Consumer Protections in the Crypto Sector
The proposed regulations aim to strengthen consumer protections by ensuring that crypto platforms adhere to the same obligations as traditional financial service providers. These measures would help safeguard consumer assets, addressing concerns about the safety and reliability of platforms that have been involved in recent failures and losses.
While the new rules represent a major step toward stabilizing the crypto market in Australia, they also create a more complex regulatory environment for businesses in the sector. How this shift will impact the broader industry remains uncertain, but it signals the government’s commitment to improving oversight and consumer protection in the crypto space.
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