Australia’s digital currency industry keen on regulation, senator says

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Digital currency companies in Australia are keen to adopt regulations, according to Senator Andrew Bragg who also revealed that there will be strong regulations for the sector over the next 12 months, which he says will bring credibility to the sector.

Australia has experienced a boom in digital currency adoption in recent years. According to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), there is a valued 600,000 taxpayers who have invested in digital currencies in recent years. Another Finder survey puts that number at 25% of the population, which is believed to be over six million Aussies. This survey further indicated that the industry is worth $ 6 billion.

Just this week Australia’s largest bank announcement that it would launch digital currency trading services for 6.5 million users. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will become the country’s first to support digital currencies through its CommBank mobile app, in partnership with Gemini and Chainalysis.

Despite the adoption, the country has yet to implement regulations for the industry.

Bragg, who represents New South Wales, believes that is about to change. In a editorial for local outlet Finder, he claimed that the digital currency industry is hungry for regulations. He said: “To my surprise, I have never seen an industry so passionate about regulation. Almost everyone I spoke to in this industry understood that regulation would bring credibility and validity to this industry which had been dismissed by many as fanciful and illegitimate for its 12 year lifespan.

He told the outlet that he expects Australia to formulate and implement regulations for the industry over the next 12 months.

Although he did not disclose any details about the regulations, it can be assumed that they will allow and seek to foster innovation. Australia has turned out to be one of the countries keen to promote the growth of the developing industry.

Most recently, Senator Bragg tabled the final report of the Special Committee on Financial and Regulatory Technologies on Digital Assets. The 143-page report contained an in-depth look at the Australian Bitcoin industry, its growth, future projections, and most importantly, recommendations on how the government can foster that growth.

The report took into account the views and recommendations of several stakeholders. Elas Digital, a software solutions company led by Brendan Lee, was among those who submitted reports.

As CoinGeek reported, the report recommended a new licensing regime for exchanges, a tax cut for block reward miners who use renewable energy, a DAO structure, recommendations on a CBDC and more. .

Bragg believes the Australian government will act quickly to implement the report’s recommendations. He believes this is the only way the country can keep up with its peers, including Singapore, the UK and the US, which move much faster on digital currencies.

However, he acknowledged that this will be hampered by the upcoming general elections due in the first half of 2022 and a possible change of government.

Some players in the Australian financial industry are not impressed with the pace at which government is changing. Mark Carnegie, a venture capitalist with an interest in digital currency, told CNBC that “the speed at which we are actually trying to implement regulatory changes and the speed at which this technology is evolving is poles apart.”

The regulations will greatly serve the Australian digital currency industry. The market has seen its fair share of scams, with ASIC noting a few months ago that these scams had climbed 20% this year. Just recently, a Gold Coast-based law firm announced that it is filing a $ 100 million lawsuit against a local token whose founders allegedly engaged in fraud and pyramid schemes.

Digital currencies are coming of age, and with them there is an urgent need to stop scammers and worthless pumping and dumping tokens. While some still cling to the misconception that Bitcoin is anti-regulatory and beyond the scope of the law, recent events have proven Dr. Craig Wright right who has long berated those who use Bitcoin at illegal purposes.

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