Australia | Crypto

Australia has taken another step to introduce legislation that will subject crypto platforms to the same laws and licensing obligations as financial institutions. Australia’s government has introduced a new bill that will regulate crypto platforms under existing financial services laws after an industry consultation saw cautious support for the legislation. Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino introduced the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 on Wednesday, which would require crypto companies such as exchanges and custody providers to obtain an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL). “Across the world, digital assets are reshaping finance,” Mulino told the House on Wednesday. “Australia must keep pace. If we get this right, we can attract investment, create jobs and position our financial system as a leader in innovation.” Read more

The head of Australia’s market regulator, Joe Longo, is looking to embrace tokenization in Australia’s capital markets, fearing the country will fall behind if it doesn’t act. Australia’s capital markets risk being outpaced by other countries unless it embraces new technology such as tokenization, says the country’s head market regulator. “As other countries adapt and innovate, there’s a real risk Australia could become the ‘land of missed opportunity’ or be passive recipients of developments overseas,” Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair Joe Longo told the National Press Club on Wednesday. Over $35.8 billion worth of real-world assets are currently tokenized onchain, which Boston Consulting Group estimated could rise to $16 trillion by 2030, while McKinsey & Co predicted a more conservative $2 trillion over the same time frame. Read more

Crypto exchange Gemini is expanding its offering in Australia with a local entity and team, and plans to sit back and watch the country’s consultation on crypto laws. US crypto exchange Gemini is set to expand its offerings in Australia with the launch of a new locally registered entity, and is taking a wait-and-see approach to recent draft laws expected to broaden oversight of the crypto sector. Gemini’s head of Asia Pacific, Saad Ahmed, told Cointelegraph that Australia’s crypto penetration is “quite significant, somewhere in the range of 23 to 25%” which leaves the exchange with “headroom for growth.” On Thursday, the exchange said it created a local entity registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the country’s financial intelligence agency, enabling it to provide access to local payment rails. Read more

Fitell has disclosed a $1.5M purchase of 216.8M PUMP and advanced a broader Solana strategy with staking, custody, and DeFi, while tracked institutions report nearly 18M SOL. Fitell news spans Pump and Solana activity. The post Australia’s Fitell Adds 216.8M $PUMP to Solana Treasury – Stock Sinks 14% on Debut Buy appeared first on Cryptonews.

Australia has released draft legislation to create new crypto products, bringing the crypto companies under the same rules as financial services businesses. Australia is aiming to tighten regulations around crypto service providers, with draft legislation that would extend finance sector laws to crypto exchanges. Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino told a crypto conference on Thursday that the legislation is “the cornerstone of our digital asset roadmap,” which the Albanese Government released in March. “This is a preliminary version of the legislation, and we are seeking stakeholder feedback on its effectiveness and clarity before proceeding further,” he said. Read more

Global exchanges Coinbase and OKX are betting big on Australia’s pension pie, pushing crypto into self-managed super funds. Australia’s 4.3-trillion-Australian-dollar pension system, which is approximately $2.8 trillion, has presented a significant growth opportunity to crypto platforms across the world. Self-managed super funds (SMSFs), which let Australians manage their own retirement savings, have become a key entry point for crypto. Platforms like Coinbase and OKX see them as a way to position digital assets within long-term wealth strategies. As of 2025, SMSFs hold about 1.7 billion AUD in crypto, a sevenfold jump since 2021. Read more

Australia’s financial regulator has granted licensing exemptions for intermediaries distributing AFS-licensed stablecoins, starting with AUDM. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has introduced licensing exemptions for intermediaries involved in the distribution of stablecoins issued by licensed entities. Under the newly published ASIC Corporations (Stablecoin Distribution Exemption) Instrument 2025/631, intermediaries distributing a stablecoin issued by an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee are no longer required to hold their own AFS, market or clearing and settlement facility licenses. “ASIC is committed to supporting responsible innovation in the rapidly evolving digital assets space, while ensuring important consumer protections are in place by having eligible stablecoins issued under an AFS licence,” the regulator said in a Thursday announcement. Read more

South Korean fintech unicorn Toss plans to launch a finance superapp in Australia this year and issue a Korean won stablecoin once regulations allow. South Korean fintech unicorn Toss plans to launch a finance superapp in Australia this year, its first overseas expansion, while also preparing to issue a Korean won-based stablecoin once regulations allow. According to a Tuesday Reuters report, Toss CEO Lee Seung-gun said that the firm plans to launch its superapp in Australia this year and expand to other markets too. “We proved in Korea that a startup can compete head-on with entrenched players,” he told the outlet. “A similar model can work globally, especially in countries where users juggle multiple bank accounts or fintech apps. We want to bring them into one seamless experience.” The CEO said that Toss has attracted more than 30 million users in South Korea since it launched in 2015. Australia is just the first overseas push for the company, where the firm hopes to leverage a fragmented banking system an...

Coinbase and OKX are moving into Australia’s pensions through SMSFs, while the United States revamps rules on how crypto fits into retirement plans. Two of the largest centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and OKX, are introducing services for self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs ) in Australia, giving individuals new ways to add cryptocurrency to the country’s retirement savings system. While Australians have been able to hold digital assets in SMSFs for several years, Coinbase and OKX are now packaging that access into dedicated products, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Instead of leaving investors to set up their own structures and manage custody independently, the exchanges offer services that combine referrals to accountants and law firms with integrated custody and record-keeping to meet audit requirements. Read more

Webull's entry into Australia is expected to pressure local crypto platforms to slash trading costs, experts told Decrypt.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said the regulator has now beefed up its scam enforcement to include monitoring social media ads. Australia’s markets regulator is set to expand its crackdown on online scams after taking down 14,000 online scams since July 2023, with over 3,000 purporting to involve crypto.  The online scams include investment scams, phishing websites and are found in online advertisements. ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said in a statement that ASIC’s investment scam enforcement efforts will now be expanded to include social media ads. Worldwide losses from crypto hacks, scams, and exploits hit $2.47 billion in the first half of 2025, representing a nearly 3% increase compared to the $2.4 billion stolen in 2024. Read more

Australia’s Block Earner has launched a Bitcoin-backed mortgage as a new path into the property market, following a regulatory win that cleared the way for crypto-backed lending. As home prices in Australia continue to outpace incomes, a company is rolling out a Bitcoin-backed mortgage, offering crypto holders a new way to access the property market without selling their assets. On Wednesday, Block Earner launched the country’s first Bitcoin-backed home loan after fighting with regulators in court for over two years. The product was made possible by an April Federal Court ruling that found that Block Earner’s crypto lending products did not qualify as “financial products” under the Corporations Act. The decision cleared the company from needing a financial services license in order to offer Bitcoin as collateral in home loans. Read more

Westpac Institutional Bank has partnered with Chainlink and Australia's RBA to launch Project Acacia, a blockchain-based tokenized asset settlement project that could save AU$12 billion annually. The post Westpac and Australia’s RBA Launch Chainlink-Based Tokenized Asset Settlement Project appeared first on Cryptonews.

Tasmania has become the latest Australian state to intensify efforts against crypto ATM scams after top users lost AUD 2.5 million to fraudsters. The post Australia’s Tasmania Joins Nationwide Crackdown on Crypto ATMs as Scam Losses Hit $1.6 Million appeared first on Cryptonews.

Australia has approved 24 tokenized asset use cases under Project Acacia, enabling real-money trials across major banks and fintechs.

Australia now taxes crypto as property, with capital gains on swaps, DeFi and wrapped tokens, plus new ATO data sweeps targeting 1.2 million users. Australia is one of the world’s most crypto-aware nations, with over 31% of citizens owning digital assets and nearly 1,800 crypto ATMs across the country. Crypto is currently taxed as property in Australia, triggering capital gains tax (CGT) on disposal and income tax on mining, staking or payments. A May 2025 court ruling may challenge the status quo, suggesting that Bitcoin could be classified as “Australian currency,” potentially exempting it from CGT. Read more

Visa and Chainlink have completed a key milestone in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) e-HKD+ Pilot Programme, successfully testing a cross-border blockchain transaction using central bank digital currency (CBDC) and stablecoins. The trial, conducted in partnership with ANZ, ChinaAMC, and Fidelity International, is one of the first real-world simulations of programmable money being used […] The post Visa, Chainlink successfully complete CBDC, stablecoin swap between Hong Kong, Australia appeared first on CryptoSlate.