Originally released On: 9 DEC 2021 via Business Insider Australia by John Buckley (Link below)

The Prospect of New Australian Crypto Regulation

In short, 

• Treasury will open consultation on new Australian crypto legislation in early 2022.
• Decentralised autonomous organisations, or “DAOs”, will soon find a home in Australian legislation as well.
• Australia make significant moves forward as the world is watching on after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced plans to roll out new crypto regulation across the market.   

Early next year, Treasury will open the consultation process on a new exchange licensing framework for the Australian crypto sector, which is currently unregulated and holds billions of the $US2 trillion worth of assets held globally.

“In doing so, it will drive even more consumer interest, facilitate even more new entrants and enable even more innovation to take place,” Frydenberg said.

Treasury tries to make up for lost time by legislating for DAOs

After spending so long on the back foot with crypto, Australian policymakers not only want to catch up with the proliferation of the asset class, but also get ahead on the emerging structures that accompany it. 

Frydenberg said offering legal recognition to decentralised autonomous organisations, or “DAOs”, played a critical role in getting there. The government will open consultation on how best to do so in the second half of 2022.

How viable is a central bank digital currency?

Frydenberg also announced that Treasury would begin looking into whether a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) linked to a sovereign currency — not to be confused with cryptocurrencies — could have a future in Australia. 

Late last month, the Reserve Bank of Australia said it was considering creating a wholesale CBDC for early use among the major banks which could see use settling major transactions, like car sales and home loans, instantly.