A Senate report in Australia has outlined the importance of creating new amendments to crypto regulation that also define the operations of digital asset miners.
The report underlined the need to introduce tax rebates and licences for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Summary
Australia, regulation and competition in the crypto sector
The goal is to first make Australia competitive at the same levels as Singapore, which is currently the leading model for cryptocurrency regulation. Other countries that Australian lawmakers are putting themselves on the map are the UK and America.
The same report shows the willingness of the technical committee of the Senate to have more precision and clarity on what are the regulatory mechanisms of the banks. Banks may not even agree to provide financial services to customers using cryptocurrencies.
The growth of the crypto sector in Australia
Over the last year, there has been a strong growth in the cryptocurrency sector in Australia. Strangely enough, major financial institutions have been unwilling to invest in the field for fear of incurring too much risk dictated by product volatility and constant market fluctuations.
The report states:
“Australia must fix its rules to make space for entities with a “decentralised autonomous company structure” and its tax rules so people only pay taxes on trading digital assets when they make a clearly definable capital gain”.
Senate technology committee chairman Andrew Bragg, on the other hand, said:
“It means Australians can have more control of their financial destiny rather than being dependent on endless intermediation. The committee has recommended a comprehensive crypto framework to deliver Australian leadership. We’ll be competitive with Singapore, the UK and the US”.
The Australian Taxation Office analyzed and disclosed a sharp increase in trading in 2020. This was also due to the pandemic situation that created new financial catchment areas. And although efforts have been made to keep up with the evolution of various “digital” economic outlets such as NFTs and new blockchain developments, the returns have not been optimal.
By early 2021, one-seventh of Australians owned cryptocurrencies. This state of things had led to a continued flurry of investment online, driving some digital values to record levels. The amount of cryptocurrencies held by the population was around $8 billion Australian dollars and among these, Bitcoin held a leading position.
After the release of the report, many people called for new regulations and different rules for the trading of cryptocurrencies.
Caroline Bowler, CEO of BTC Markets, pointed out that the conclusions reached by the Senate report are a step forward. Australia can and must look to the future of the new decentralized finance with a comparative value more than other countries.
