Australian Senator: Crypto Firms in Australia Are Keen to Be Regulated

Senator Andrew Bragg of Australia’s New South Wales state claimed that sound regulations would “bring credibility and effectiveness” to the country’s nascent digital asset industry.

On November 2, the chairman of the Senate Committee of the Australian Technology and Financial Center said in an interview with local media Finder that the encryption industry in Australia has shown a willingness to accept stronger regulation in order to gain mainstream legitimacy.

"To my surprise, I've never seen an industry so eager to embrace regulation," Bragg said. "

"In the industry, almost everyone I've spoken to understands that regulation will bring credibility and effectiveness to the industry."

Bragg added that he expects Australia to introduce new regulations governing the crypto industry within the next 12 months.

Bragg's comments follow the release of his Senate committee's "encryption report" last month.

The report made 12 recommendations aimed at addressing key issues related to the cryptocurrency sector, including tax incentives for cryptocurrency miners using renewable energy, new licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges, and support for decentralized finance (Decentralized Finance). DeFi) capital gains tax reforms, as well as new laws to govern decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

The report also acknowledged that current legislation on digital assets lacks transparency and “creates uncertainty for project developers, businesses, investors and consumers.”

According to Bragg, the proposals will allow Australia to compete with leading blockchain and crypto industry jurisdictions such as Singapore, the US and the UK.

About 25% of Australians currently or previously held cryptocurrencies, the survey showed, making Australia one of the countries with the highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption on a per capita basis.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) estimates that more than 600,000 taxpayers have invested in digital assets in recent years.

Brisbane-based cryptocurrency broker Swyftx, which employs more than 100 people in Australia, has called on the government to facilitate the growing need for access to the digital asset industry.

Swyftx told the committee: “Bringing digital assets into a tailored and reasonable regulatory sphere is a much better solution than forcing consumers to work with unregulated foreign providers.”

According to the report, Blockchain Australia commented that there is a need for Australia to implement appropriate regulatory reforms to keep pace with other jurisdictions.

“Australia lags behind international jurisdictions in developing an applicable cryptoasset framework,” the industry association commented.

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