The Australian Securities and Investments Commission must become a “digital savvy regulator” to tackle growing regulatory challenges including crypto assets and scams according to its chair Joseph Longo.
Mr Longo admits that crypto assets will be “very hard to regulate” given there are currently between 8,000 and 10,000 different crypto assets or currencies, but noted he finds the topic “endlessly fascinating”.
“Regulation is coming”, Mr Longo said. In particular he highlighted, custody arrangements as well as licensing arrangements for digital currency exchanges and other service providers in the crypto ecosystem.
He is confident in the expertise developed within the regulator over the last two to three years. The regulator is also working closely with the federal Treasury and Council of Financial Regulators. ASIC is also collaborating with international peers given “the crypto ecosystem does not observe borders” but later noted that “we’re a long way from getting a global consensus about what to do about crypto”.
He also welcomed the federal government’s announcement on Tuesday that its crypto regulation work would focus on consumer protection.
Throughout the speech and while answering questions from attendees, Mr Longo repeatedly asked Australians to be very careful when considering crypto investments, describing it as a “highly risky, highly volatile activity”.
A recent ASIC survey found…
