Australia's Digital Asset Market Regulation Bill has faced multiple delays recently. The Economic and Legal Committee of the Australian Senate has recommended that the bill should not be passed because the encryption law is too rough.
Australia’s crypto regulatory bill aims to protect and promote investors
The bill, called the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2023, was proposed by Senator Andrew Bragg and aims to protect consumers and promote investors. The draft mainly provides regulatory recommendations for stablecoins and stipulates licensing and custody requirements for exchanges.
Senate opposes passage: further study should be done
On September 4, the committee provided formal feedback on the draft, recommending that the Senate not pass it and encouraging the government to further study the subject. Reasons include:
The committee expressed concern about the lack of detail and certainty in the bill, which investors, consumers and industry deserve.
The bill fails to interact effectively with existing and new regulations.
The Committee emphasized the importance of ensuring that digital asset regulation is consistent with international regimes. Many who participated in the inquiry expressed concern about the definition proposed in the bill and felt that the licensing requirement left important details to delegated legislation which was not tabled with the bill for consideration.
The Committee believes that the Bill is inconsistent with the Government's ongoing approach to ensuring that regulations are well thought out and accepted with measures that effectively support consumers and the digital asset industry.
In summary, while the Committee understands the potential benefits and the need for regulation in the digital asset sector, they expressed significant concerns about the bill's specific content, lack of detail, and consistency with international standards. This may be one of the reasons why the Senate did not pass the bill.
Opinion of the supporter: Suggest a few revisions
However, Senators Bragg and Dean Smith took a more supportive stance on the bill in a dissent report, recommending minor revisions such as removing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from the definition of regulated digital assets. In addition, Bragg and Smith also urged the Australian Taxation Commission to re-examine the tax policy on digital assets and transactions, and plan to propose new legislation in early 2024. It’s worth noting that while the Senate committee originally planned to provide a report on the bill on August 2, the report date was pushed back multiple times and was finally set for September 4.
Should encryption be set up?
At present, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand all have cryptocurrency laws, and the EU MiCA Act is still there. The United States regulates it according to existing laws, and China has a complete ban.
Countries with special laws have established that many existing exchange businesses are restricted and require licenses, and they also have clear tax laws. Business operators under such a framework know relatively well what matters are within the scope of compliance, and relatively speaking, they can do less business.
In the United States, existing laws are interpreted and enforced on a case-by-case basis, causing many industry players to complain.
In Taiwan, anti-money laundering is the main guiding principle and it is left to the industry to self-regulate.
From the different supervisory perspectives of various countries, it remains to be seen whether setting up special encryption laws is good or bad for industrial development.
This article Australia’s encryption bill was rejected! The Senate suggests that the digital asset regulation bill should be further studied first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.
