Australia outlines crypto regulation plan, promises action on debanking

Published

9 months ago

March 21, 2025

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Australia outlines crypto regulation plan, promises action on debanking

Australia’s government, under its ruling center-left Labor Party, has proposed a new crypto framework regulating exchanges under existing financial services laws and has promised to tackle debanking.

It comes ahead of a federal election slated to be held on or before May 17, which current polling shows is shaping up to a dead heat between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor and the opposing Coalition led by Peter Dutton.

The Treasury Department said in a March 21 statement that crypto exchanges, custody services and some brokerage firms that trade or store crypto will come under the new laws.

The regime imposes similar compliance requirements as other financial services in the country, such as following rules safeguarding customer assets, obtaining an Australian Financial Services Licence and meeting minimum capital requirements.

Cryptocurrencies, Government, Australia, Cryptocurrency Exchange — *Australia’s Treasury says its new crypto regulations have four priorities. Source:* *Australian Department of the Treasury*

In August 2022, the government initiated a series of industry consultations to draft a crypto regulatory framework.

“Our legislative reforms will extend existing financial services laws to key digital asset platforms, but not to all of the digital asset ecosystem,” the Treasury said in its statement.

Small-scale and startup platforms that don’t meet specific size thresholds will be exempt, along with firms that develop blockchain-related software or create digital assets that aren’t financial products.

Payment stablecoins will be treated as a type of stored-value facility under the Government’s Payments Licensing Reforms; however, some stablecoins and wrapped tokens will be exempt.

“Dealing or secondary market trading in these products will be not treated as a dealing activity, and platforms where they are traded will not be treated as operating a market simply because of that trading activity,” the Treasury said.

As part of its crypto agenda, Albanese’s government has also promised to work with Australia’s four largest banks to better understand the extent and nature of de-banking.

There will also be a review into a central bank digital currency and an Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox in 2025, allowing businesses to test new financial products without needing a license.

Albanese’s government intends to release a draft of the legislation for public consultation. However, a change of government could be on the horizon with a looming federal election, a date for which is yet to be called.

Dutton’s center-right Coalition had earlier promised to prioritize crypto regulation if it wins the election.

The latest YouGov poll published on March 20 shows the Coalition and Labor neck in neck for a two-party preferred vote.

Caroline Bowler, the CEO of local crypto exchange BTC Markets, said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph that the areas of reform are sensible and would keep Australia competitive with global peers.

However, she thinks there “will be additional detail required on capital adequacy and custody requirements.”

“We need to ensure that these requirements aren’t overly burdensome for business investment in Australia,” Bowler said.

Kraken Australia’s managing director, Jonathon Miller, said there is an “urgent need for bespoke crypto legislation” to address the existing confusion and uncertainty in the country’s industry.

“We believe that by establishing a clear crypto regulatory framework and mitigating problems like debanking, government can remove the barriers hampering growth in the Australian economy,” he said.

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Politics

Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Published

3 hours ago

December 1, 2025

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Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi view Kevin Hassett, US President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council director, as the favorite to replace Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve chair.

The odds of Hassett filling the seat have spiked to 66% on Polymarket and 74% on Kalshi at the time of writing. Hassett is widely viewed as crypto‑friendly thanks to his past role on Coinbase’s advisory council, a disclosed seven‑figure stake in the exchange and his leadership of the White House digital asset working group.

Founder and CEO of Wyoming-based Custodia Bank, and a prominent advocate for crypto-friendly regulations, Caitlin Long, commented on X:

“If this comes true & Hassett does become Fed chairman, anti-#crypto people at the Fed who still hold positions of power will finally be out (well, most of them anyway). BIG changes will be coming to the Fed.”

Kevin Hassett’s crypto credentials

Hassett is a long-time Republican policy economist who returned to Washington as Trump’s top economic adviser and has now emerged as the market-implied frontrunner to lead the Fed.

His financial disclosure reveals at least a seven‑figure Coinbase stake and compensation for serving on the exchange’s Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, placing him unusually close to the crypto industry for a potential Fed chair.

Still, crypto has been burned before by reading too much into “crypto‑literate” resumes. Gary Gensler arrived at the Securities and Exchange Commission with MIT blockchain courses under his belt, but went on to preside over a wave of high‑profile enforcement actions, some of which critics branded as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

A Hassett-led Fed might be more open to experimentation and less reflexively hostile to bank‑crypto activity. Still, the institution’s mandate on financial stability means markets should not assume a one‑way bet on deregulation.

Supervision pushback inside the Fed

The Hassett odds have jumped just as the Fed’s own approach to bank supervision has received pushback from veterans like Fed Governor Michael Barr, who earned his reputation as one of Operation Chokepoint 2.0’s key architects.

According to Caitlin Long, while he Barr “was Vice Chairman of Supervision & Regulation he did Warren’s bidding,” and he “has made it clear he will oppose changes made by Trump & his appointees.”

On Nov. 18, the Fed released new Supervisory Operating Principles that shift examiners toward a “risk‑first” framework, directing staff to focus on material safety‑and‑soundness risks rather than procedural or documentation issues.

In a speech the same day, Barr warned that narrowing oversight, weakening ratings frameworks and making it harder to issue enforcement actions or matters requiring attention could leave supervisors slower to act on emerging risks, arguing that gutting those tools may repeat pre‑crisis mistakes.

Days later, in Consumer Affairs Letter 25‑1, the Fed clarified that the new Supervisory Operating Principles do not apply to its Consumer Affairs supervision program (an area under Barr’s committee as a governor).

If prediction markets are right and a crypto‑friendly Hassett inherits this landscape, his Fed would not be writing on a blank slate but stepping into an institution already mid‑pivot on how hard (and where) it leans on banks.