Australia’s Multi-Phase Plan to Combat Crypto Scams

The Australian government is boosting its market regulator’s digital asset team in an effort to protect consumers dealing with cryptocurrencies.

The measures, which are part of a multi-stage approach, will involve strengthening enforcement, improving consumer protection, and establishing a framework for its token mapping reform.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) will focus on ensuring that the risks to consumers from crypto products and service providers are properly disclosed, and its digital assets team will be increased in size with increased enforcement measures.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will be given a real-time data-sharing tool to identify and prevent crypto scams, which resulted in losses of $221 million in 2022.

Consumer protection will also be strengthened through regulation of licensing and custody of digital assets.

A framework for this will be established but will not begin until mid-2023 and will take considerable time before being enacted into legislation.