Australian treasurer Jim Chalmers said that his government will improve the means Australia’s system manages crypto assets and provide larger protections for consumers.
Three months after being elected into power, the Australian labor party has finally broken its silence however it's aiming to approach crypto regulation.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers declared a “token mapping” exercise, that was one of 12 recommendations in a senate inquiry report last year on “Australia as a Technology and financial center.” The report was warmly welcomed by the industry that has been anxiously waiting to see if the alp government would embrace it.
Aimed at being conducted before the end of the year, the token mapping exercise is expected to assist in “identifying however crypto assets and connected services ought to be regulated” and inform future restrictive decisions.
Cointelegraph understands that Treasury will undertake work on a number of the other recommendations within the near future, as well as a licensing framework for crypto asset service providers dealing in non-financial product crypto assets, appropriate necessities 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, alongside Assistant Treasurer and Minister for monetary Services Stephen Jones, and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Dr. Andrew Leigh, the Albanese-led government says it needs 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 noted that over one million taxpayers have interacted with the crypto ecosystem since 2018, and yet, “regulation is troubled to stay the pace and adapt with the crypto asset sector.”
The politicians claimed that the previous Liberal-led government had previously “dabbled” in crypto asset regulation through crypto secondary service suppliers “without initial 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.”
Michael Bacina, the partner at Piper alderman, said the token mapping exercise is going to be AN “important step” to bridge the numerous education gap between regulators and policymakers.
“Australia punches above its weight in blockchain right now but we have seen regulatory uncertainty lead to businesses leaving Australia,” he said.
However, Dr. Aaron Lane, a senior lecturer at the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, believes the token mapping exercise are a few things of a delaying plan of action by the Labor government:
“Progress is progress — but it is disappointing that we are not further along the path to greater regulatory certainty for industry and greater protections for consumers.”
(FELIX NG, Cointelegraph.com, 2022)