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Highlights
- Australian Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, will talk about potential reforms that will be made to the Australian economy, pertaining to cryptocurrency
- The Treasurer will talk about the ambiguity that regulation and taxation of the crypto space can create
- In the draft of Wednesday’s speech, the Treasurer points out that Australia has the chance to be a leader in leveraging blockchain technology
Cryptocurrency has already been around for over a decade now, with the first ever crypto blockchain, Bitcoin being launched in 2009. However, it took over 8 years to gain popularity in Australia. Until now, Australia has had a rough and tumble relationship with cryptocurrencies. It was in 2020, when crypto began to explode and was caught under fire with the Australian government.
As is often the case with emerging technologies, it takes government and legislation a while to catch up. In this case, it seems the Australian government is finally starting to take cryptocurrency seriously.
Australian Government Making Moves
The Australian government is finally making serious moves towards making Bitcoin a part of Australia’s future economy. The government seem to make the declaration in favour of cryptocurrency in November when Liberal Senator, Jane Hume, admitted that Bitcoin was “no fad” and wasn’t going away anytime soon.
Hume’s declaration immediately followed the Commonwealth Bank announcing the launch of a crypto service on its app.
Now there are two major works in progress towards taking Bitcoin from a fringe currency to the mainstream, one of which is to impose regulations for crypto exchange platforms and the second is building its own digital currency.
Source: © Trismegist8 | Megapixl.com
Exchange Regulations
Australian Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, will address the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday. According to a draft of his speech, Frydenberg will talk about potential reforms that will be made to the Australian economy, pertaining to cryptocurrency.
In particular, the Treasurer will talk about the ambiguity that regulation and taxation of the crypto space can create. For example, In November, US President, Joe Biden signed a bill which included unclear language regarding the taxation of digital assets left many investors scratching their heads.
But the crypto reform promises that crypto customers will be able to buy and sell assets in a regulated environment.
This is a much-needed change, as last week saw the liquidation of myCryptoWallet, leaving some of its customers unable to access thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. Therefore, the government wants crypto exchanges and businesses to apply for financial licences to give consumers more confidence about who they're dealing with.
The Digital Dollar
In the draft of Wednesday’s speech, the Treasurer points out that Australia has the chance to be a leader in leveraging blockchain technology. As such, the Australian Government plans to consult in order to potentially introduce a central bank digital currency.
Additionally, Frydenberg points out that 17% of Australians already own some kind of digital currency and if Australia doesn’t keep control over its payment systems, it will ultimately be the tech industry that determines the future of Australia’s payments system.
