On 29 March, Australian Liberal party senator Andrew Bragg presented a new bill to implement a licensing regime for crypto exchanges.
However, the proposed bill is unlikely to get passed in the Australian parliament. A bill goes through various processes before it becomes law. The press release was released on Wednesday by the Parliament education office regarding the bill’s details. It seeks majority support from the both Senate and House of Representatives. After passing through both houses in its original form, the bill will be transferred to the Governor-General for Royal assent.
Andrew Bragg introduced a bill named Digital Asset and Marketing Regulation 2023 in the parliament and it’s a private member bill. The proposed bill intends to regulate digital assets, protect consumer rights and promote investments. However, most of the bills in the parliament are introduced by ministers. Still, the Parliamentary Education Office allows individual members to introduce any bill under the category of private member bill.
Bragg after presenting the bill took a jab at the incumbent Labor party government for delaying the crypto legislation. He blamed the government for willfully dragging Aussies into an unstable crypto market by showing its inability to bring crypto legislation. The bill, if passed, which is most unlikely because of lack of support, will regulate the businesses to work according to the frameworks and implement know your customers (KYC) norms. Additionally, it will also regulate cryptocurrency custodians and stablecoins issuers.
A few days back, the Australian government announced that the crypto legislation could be delayed till 2024 due incompleteness of the guidelines. Australia wants to introduce a consultation paper for public discussion in the mid of the 2023 and final submissions may be extended beyond 2024. After the FTX collapse, the demand for cryptocurrencies decreased, allowing the government to discuss the crypto legislation more comprehensively. The FTX collapse impacted over 30,000 Aussies and 132 companies.
