Australian government keen to protect crypto investors by introducing a ‘Badge of Approval’ for exchanges

• The Australian government is keen to tap on the burgeoning crypto market.
• By introducing friendly, clear, and simple tax policies, the Morrison government will open up the country for crypto investment.

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The Australian government has announced new crypto regulation. According to the Minister for Digital Economy Jane Hume, the government is ready for crypto. Hume noted that the crypto badge introduction is part of a policy paper to be released on Monday.

“The Morrison government wants to make sure that consumers can trust the exchanges that they use to buy crypto,”. Hume said during the Blockchain Australia event on Monday.

The Australian government on crypto

The Australian government is keen to tap on the burgeoning crypto market. By introducing friendly, clear, and simple tax policies, the Morrison government will open up the country for crypto investment.

Worth noting, the Australian government will hold custody of crypto money to ensure reliability. By holding part of the custody, the government will have some control over the crypto market. Hume said;

We have a plan to ensure that crypto investors who hold crypto on an exchange can always access their money by introducing custody requirements for crypto assets,

The crypto market cap is $2 trillion, with high prospects of dethroning Gold’s market cap. As such, the Australian government is keen to introduce investors to a safer business environment. Moreover, the crypto industry is a global network with a fast growth rate compared to traditional businesses.

Humes argued that the crypto industry crypto market cannot be regulated as a financial product due to its transparent nature. Moreover, crypto-assets depend on blockchain technology that is tamper-proof of alteration. The public ledgers enable anyone on the internet to access key transaction details. 

There’s a lot more transparency. There are fewer things that can go wrong. Crypto assets don’t generate the same potential harms as financial products, so we won’t regulate them in the same way … However, once you introduce an intermediary, like an exchange or an interaction with the physical or non-crypto world, then you introduce that trust requirement … the role of government is to help assure this trust and that’s why the Coalition is regulating licensees and custodians,

During the same event, Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg advocated for a  Digital Services Act. Bragg argued that a clear and simple Digital Services Act and competitive tax policy are key.

Moreover, the crypto industry is global and geopolitical differences have to be factored in. He argued;

I’m not afraid of arguing for radical tax changes to ensure that we are not inadvertently taxing transactions that we shouldn’t be. But better still, trying to get a system where we are becoming viewed as a jurisdiction that people want to do business in because our tax system is clear and clean, just as our regulatory environment is clear and clean.,

The Crypto market is essentially set to benefit from ongoing crypto regulations. Furthermore, more regulations mean more users on board.