Australian Treasury proposes to regulate crypto exchanges, not tokens
The Australian federal government is charging forward with plans to regulate the digital asset sector at the exchange level, and may soon require cryptocurrency exchanges to hold a financial services license issued by the local financial regulator.
In the newly-unveiled “Regulating digital asset platforms” consultation paper, released on Oct. 16, the Australian Treasury said that the new regulatory framework aims to address consumer harms while still supporting innovation in the digital asset sector.
The core theme of the new regulatory framework is that it aims to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers instead of individual cryptocurrencies or tokens themselves. Additionally, the consultation paper explained that it will regulate crypto exchanges under pre-existing financial services laws, instead of crafting new crypto-specific rules.
The proposal has seen a mixed reaction from crypto exchanges operating in Australia.
Australian crypto exchange Swyftx’s general counsel Adam Percy called the proposal “thoughtful” and agreed that “the primary focus should be to make sure cryptocurrency users can access blockchain technology with appropriate protections and that there’s room for innovation.”
Jonathon Miller, the Director of Kraken Australia, however, expressed his disappointment at the latest developments, saying that the consultation paper was essentially “shoehorning” crypto in existing financial services regulation.
“Australia is now in the unfortunate situation where our regulation has taken a very long time, so we’re taking the approach of shoehorning crypto into existing financial services regulation,” Miller said. “We’re behind our global peers when it comes to implementing a crypto framework, so I appreciate the need to have something in place locally to provide certainty to platforms like ours.”
“I’m hopeful that we can work collaboratively with the Government to make sure we don’t snuff out the benefits of future innovations in crypto that might fall outside the conventional ‘financial services’ box.
Liam Hennessey, partner at international law firm Clyde & Co said that while its clear that the Treasury is still “grappling” with all of the different types of tokens and services providers, it’s crucial to remember that all new proposals set out in the consultation paper are still only suggestions, and are not legally binding recommendations.
Related: Crypto exchange Kraken ‘disappointed’ over regulator proceedings in Australia
“Whatever the Treasury suggests, it is just that – a suggestion only. The Government is not bound to follow its recommendations, and there will be lobbying once the consultation paper comes out.”
Hennessy said that the consultation paper arguably doesn’t address the more pressing issues facing the crypto industry in Australia, like issues such as the recent slew of de-banking.
“Many licensed digital assets exchanges, both domestic and international, are struggling to find adequate banking arrangements,” said Hennessy.
Notably, the Treasury outlined that the entire point of the consultation paper is to “seek feedback” on the many questions and regulations proposed within in it and advised that any feedback may be submitted by Dec. 1, 2023.
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Politics
Angela Rayner calls on MPs to sit ‘through the night’ to get workers’ rights bill through parliament
Angela Rayner has issued an angry call to MPs to sit “through the night” to stop hereditary peers delaying her flagship employment rights bill.
In an outburst at the start of the latest “ping pong” between the Lords and Commons, she said: “What’s wrong with protecting people from unfair dismissal?”
The former deputy prime minister hit out at the delaying tactics of the House of Lords, with the clock ticking only days before parliament’s Christmas recess.
The bill now goes back to the Lords on Tuesday, when ministers hope peers will drop their opposition so the bill can receive royal assent by the time parliament rises on Thursday.
Ms Rayner’s attack on hereditary peers followed a government defeat in the Lords by 24 votes last week, just days before Sir Keir Starmer created 25 new Labour peers.
“What message does this send to the British public, when 33 hereditary peers have tried to defeat the government by 24 votes on a manifesto promise on sick pay, for example, which will miss the deadline for April for some of the lowest earners from some of the wealthiest?” she declared.
“Shouldn’t we get on, go through the night if we have to, and get this bill passed?”
And employment minister Kate Dearden told MPs: “We have been in ping pong for far too long, and further delay is not in anyone’s best interest.”
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Rayner makes speech on Employment Rights Bill
At the end of an hour-long debate, MPs voted by 311 votes to 96, a majority of 215, to remove a cap on unfair dismissal compensation, overturning a vote in the Lords last week.
In its attempts to get the bill through the Lords, ministers have abandoned day one protection against unfair dismissal and, after a deal with trade unions, replaced it with a six-month qualifying period.
But at the same time the government introduced an 11th hour measure to scrap compensation caps for unfair dismissal, which is currently 52 weeks’ pay or £118,223, whichever is lower.
Read more: Starmer insists budget leaks and leadership speculation did not come from him
Tory MP Andrew Griffith attacked plans to lift a compensation cap. Pic: PA
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, who has led Tory opposition to the bill, attacked the removal of a cap.
“It wasn’t in the manifesto, it wasn’t in the bill, it wasn’t in the impact assessment,” he protested.
Earlier, in a boost for the government, six business groups urged peers to back down and end the parliamentary “ping pong” between the Commons and the Lords.
The groups, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), fear the six-month unfair dismissal compromise agreed with the unions could be at risk.
“To avoid losing the six-month qualifying period, we therefore believe that now is the time for parliament to pass the bill,” they urged in a letter to Business Secretary Peter Kyle.
Mr Kyle said “all parties… have made difficult but necessary compromises to bring this bill forward” and urged “everyone” to recognise business groups and trade unions want it passed “without further delay”.
Politics
Specialist teams and online investigators deployed across England and Wales to tackle ‘national emergency’ of violence against women and girls
Specialist investigation teams for rape and sexual offences are to be created across England and Wales as the home secretary declares violence against women and girls a “national emergency”.
Shabana Mahmood said the dedicated units will be in place across every force by 2029 as part of Labour’s violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy due to be launched later this week.
The use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs), which had been trialled in several areas, will also be rolled out across England and Wales. They are designed to target abusers by imposing curfews, electronic tags and exclusion zones.
The orders cover all forms of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, stalking and ‘honour’-based abuse. Breaching the terms can carry a prison term of up to five years.
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Govt ‘thinking again’ on abuse strategy
Nearly £2m will also be spent funding a network of officers to target offenders operating within the online space.
Teams will use covert and intelligence techniques to tackle violence against women and girls via apps and websites.
A similar undercover network funded by the Home Office to examine child sexual abuse has arrested over 1,700 perpetrators.
Abuse is ‘national emergency’
Ms Mahmood said in a statement: “This government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.
“For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That’s not good enough. We will halve it in a decade.
“Today, we announce a range of measures to bear down on abusers, stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide.”
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Angiolini Inquiry: Recommendations are ‘not difficult’
The target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade is a Labour manifesto pledge.
The government said the measures build on existing policy, including facial recognition technology to identify offenders, improving protections for stalking victims, making strangulation a criminal offence and establishing domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms.
Read more from Sky News:
Demands for violence and abuse reforms
Women still feel unsafe on streets
Minister ‘clarifies’ violence strategy
Labour has ‘failed women’
But the Conservatives said Labour had “failed women” and “broken its promises” by delaying the publication of the violence against women and girls strategy.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that Labour “shrinks from uncomfortable truths, voting against tougher sentences and presiding over falling sex-offender convictions. At every turn, Labour has failed women”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will be on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning from 8.30am.
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