Australian Finance Minister proposes regulation of crypto as financial product

Australian Financial Minister Stephen Jones has said there is a “good argument” to regulate crypto assets as financial products, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Jones said that, with the exception of Bitcoin, most crypto assets are primarily used as a store of value for investment or speculation and should therefore be treated as financial products.

The minister’s statement comes in the wake of the FTX collapse, which has prompted the Australian government to focus on regulating crypto assets that act like financial products.

Jones also noted that there is no need to create a separate regulatory regime for crypto assets, which are, for all intents and purposes, financial products.

He added that the government will soon reveal which crypto assets it plans to regulate through its “token mapping” exercise.

However, not everyone agrees with the proposed regulation. Blockchain Australia, a lobby group for the crypto industry, is at odds with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Commonwealth Bank over the broad classification of all crypto assets as financial products.

The group argues that such a classification would harm investment and growth in the sector and could lead to job losses.

The Australian Bitcoin Industry Body (ABIB) also disagrees with the proposal, arguing that it would make regulatory efforts for the industry’s sub-sectors challenging.

The Australian government has recently ramped up efforts to regulate the crypto industry in the wake of the FTX collapse. The government has pledged to establish a framework to guide the licensing and regulation of crypto service providers.