Australia Advances Digital-Asset Oversight with New Regulatory Framework
- The Australian Senate Economics Committee supports a bill to regulate digital-asset platforms under financial-services law.
- Digital-asset platforms and tokenized custody services will be classified as financial products, requiring an Australian Financial Services Licence.
- A six-month transition period is set for operators to comply with the new regulations after they begin.
- The framework aims to close gaps in consumer protection and modernize oversight of the rapidly expanding digital assets industry.
- Industry leaders, including OKX Australia CEO Kate Cooper, welcome the regulatory clarity, citing potential economic benefits up to $24 billion annually.
Australia’s proposed Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill seeks to integrate digital-asset platforms into existing financial-services laws, ensuring better consumer protection and regulatory oversight.
By mandating licenses for operators handling client tokens, the bill addresses current regulatory gaps and could boost Australia’s economy by up to $24 billion yearly through enhanced productivity standards. Source
