NEW BILL ON DIGITAL ASSETS REGULATION

Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022. (Click to view).

Australia must keep pace with the global race for regulation of digital assets. Enormous progress was made under the previous Coalition Government.

The Labor Government believes cryptocurrency is a “scam” and is starting its work from scratch.

If cryptocurrency regulation was driven by vested interests at class action law firms or superannuation funds, the Minister, Stephen Jones would have already delivered a bill.

The consequence of Labor’s inaction is clear. Australia is falling behind on consumer protection and investment promotion.

As a result of the inaction, I am releasing a draft bill for consultation. The draft bill is called the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022. The bill does the following:

Introduces licenses for:

Digital Asset Exchanges,

Digital Asset Custody services, and

Stablecoin Issuers: (This includes requirements for Australian or foreign currency to be held in reserve in an Australian bank and for frequent reporting.)

Establishes disclosure requirements for facilitators of the e-Yuan in Australia, as the e-Yuan is the first CBDC released by a central bank of a major economy.

Consultation is open until 31 October 2022.

It is essential that the Parliament drives law reform when the Labor Government is indolent and only responsive to vested interests.

I look forward to community feedback.