Per the Senate report, Australia needs to amend its laws to include cryptocurrencies and compete with the crypto market outlooks in the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore.
The Senate report indicated that there is a need for Australia to facilitate crypto mining activities through licensing crypto exchanges and providing tax discounts.
The report which was published on October 20 by the Senate’s Committee on Australia as a Technology and Finance Centre also urged that there needs to be a detailed guideline as to under what circumstances can banks refuse to undertake clients that are working in the crypto industry.
The crypto regulation avoidance by the financial institutions in Australia continues amid the high risk and volatility of cryptocurrencies, even though the global crypto market has incurred an incredible surge over the past year.
Per the Senate report, Australia should lay the foundation for decentralized and autonomous entities, and also impose a mandatory information reporting system where users are subjected to paying taxes once they incur a clear capital gain.
According to Committee Chair Andrew Bragg, through said changes Australians can have a say in their financial path instead of always being subjected to intermediaries. In addition, he stated that “The committee has recommended a comprehensive crypto framework to deliver Australian leadership. We’ll be competitive with Singapore, the UK and the U.S.”
Australia is definitely lagging behind in keeping up with the expansion of digital assets, including crypto exchanges, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), security tokens on the blockchain, and others that all represent virtual holdings.
Per the Australian Taxation Office, the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have had an effect on the surge of cryptocurrencies and crypto investing, so much so that the prices of some cryptocurrencies have dramatically increased over the past year.
Nonetheless, there are varying interpretations of just how large the crypto market size is in Australia. One in six people owned crypto worth north of $6 billion in 2021, the most preferred digital currency being Bitcoin (BTC).
Crypto community members approved the newfound initiative but said that the change needs to happen as soon as possible.
Mark Carnagie, the venture capital investor said that “strong recommendations (but) the speed at which we’re trying to actually implement regulatory change, and the speed with which this technology is changing, are just poles apart.”
On another note, BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler expressed that the report definitely exceeded expectations due to its progressive recommendations and solutions that are perfect for putting Australia up the ladder in crypto and DeFi.
Also read: PayPal Co-founder Peter Thiel Regrets Not Buying More Bitcoin