The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has planned to issue an update to “Information Paper 225” by November of this year, according to Commissioner Alan Kirkland. The update sheds light on the various crypto assets and products that would be required to be under the Corporations Act 2001 jurisdiction now. This move is in convergence with the proposal of the Australian Treasury mentioning that any asset or product, falling under Australian Law, has to secure a license under the Australian Financial Services. However, the timeline for the draft legislation to be introduced in the House of Representatives continues to be in dark.
The growing failures and weaknesses of the cryptocurrency industry have prompted the Treasury to implement these guidelines, recounted the Australian Treasury, to “protect consumers”. AISC has devoted significant resources to monitor crypto-related risks, following an announcement from the regulator in November, wherein it shut down over 7300 scam websites since 2023. Out of the thousands of scam websites, the regulator states over 600 were related to crypto fraud.
Further, in March it was revealed that Meta was taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian Government body looking over national consumer law, for advertising crypto-related ‘scam’ ads on its platform which were “ false, misleading or deceptive conduct”. The ACC also claimed that Meta knew that celebrity endorsements were used by scammers but did not do enough to remove them from their advertisement section. The lawsuit came as an aftermath when numerous public figures raised alarms about similar unauthorized use of their names and images in ads on Facebook.