The Australian Labor party has finally spoken out about its plans for crypto legislation three months after winning the election and into office, as reported by Cointelegraph.
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 Center,” which Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed. The industry, which was 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.
According to Cointelegraph, Treasury will also start working on some of the other suggestions soon, such as a licencing framework for crypto asset service providers dealing in non-financial product crypto assets, suitable requirements to protect consumer crypto asset custody, and a review of the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) company-style structure.
The Albanese-led administration claims it wants to regulate the “largely unregulated” cryptocurrency industry in a statement from Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones, and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and the Treasury Dr. Andrew Leigh.
“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 further noted that more than one million taxpayers have interacted with the crypto ecosystem since 2018, and still, “regulation is struggling to keep pace and adapt with the crypto asset sector.”
Michael Bacina, a partner at Piper Alderman, told Cointelegraph that the token mapping endeavour will be a “critical step” in closing the large knowledge gap among regulators and policymakers.
In the current state of blockchain, “Australia punches above its weight, but we have seen regulatory uncertainty lead to enterprises leaving Australia,” he said.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
Also Read: EIU’s Swarup Gupta on the need for a comprehensive global crypto regulation
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