Despite reports in February suggesting that 2 million pro-crypto voters could decide the outcome of this week’s Australian Federal Election, crypto has barely rated a mention during the campaign.
“I think it’s a missed opportunity,” Independent Reserve founder Adrian Przelozny told Cointelegraph. “Neither side has made crypto a headline issue because they’re wary of polarizing voters or sounding too niche.”
But the good news is that after more than a decade of inaction, both the ruling Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the opposition Liberal Party are promising to enact crypto regulations developed in consultation with the industry.
In April, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor promised to release draft crypto regulations within the first 100 days after taking office, while the Treasury itself has draft bills on “regulating digital asset platforms” and “payments system modernization” scheduled for release this quarter.
Amy-Rose Goodey, CEO of the Digital Economy Council of Australia, said that both parties “are equally invested in getting this draft legislation across the line.”
“Irrespective of who gets in, we’re in a better position than we were about a year ago.”
Pro-crypto voters have choices in the Senate, too, with the Libertarian Party issuing a 23-page Bitcoin policy in March — calling for the creation of a national Bitcoin (BTC) Reserve and the acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender.
The minor party is fielding five Senate candidates in different states, including former Liberal MP Craig Kelly, but doesn’t currently have anyone in the Senate.
The progressive left-wing Greens party has not outlined a position on crypto, while the conservative right-wing One Nation party has campaigned against debanking and CBDCs.
The Libertarian Party’s Bitcoin Policy Whitepaper. Source: The Libertarians
More than a decade of inaction on crypto
Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into digital assets was held back in 2014, but there’s been more than a decade of regulatory inaction since. The industry says this has led to stagnation and a brain drain of talent to jurisdictions like Singapore and the UAE.
The former Liberal Government was considering the landmark Digital Services Act, based on the 2021 Senate Committee’s crypto recommendations, when it lost office in 2022. Despite ongoing consultations since, the ALP government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, hasn’t put forward any legislation to parliament.
But there has definitely been a vibe shift from the ALP recently, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers telling Cointelegraph that digital assets “represent big opportunities for our economy.”
”We want to seize these opportunities and encourage innovation at the same time as making sure Australians can use and invest in digital assets safely and securely with appropriate regulation.”
His office said exposure draft legislation would be released “in 2025” for consultation, introduced into Parliament “once that feedback has been considered” with the subsequent reforms “phased in over time to minimize disruptions to existing businesses.”
The shadow assistant treasurer, Luke Howarth, said the ALP has been slow to act because it didn’t have a blockchain policy when it was elected.
“It wasn’t until the FTX collapse that they acknowledged the need for regulation,” he told Cointelegraph. “The Albanese government initially promised it would put in place regulation by 2023 but have failed to draft legislation or give a clear time-frame for action. After three years, all that was offered to industry was a six-page placeholder document.”
He’s referring to Treasury’s March statement “on developing an innovative Australian digital asset industry.” It provides for the licensing of Digital Asset Platforms (DAPS), a framework for payment stablecoins and a review of Australia’s Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox.
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While short on detail, those aims are broadly similar to the crypto regulation priorities that Howarth outlines to Cointelegraph — the big difference being that the opposition has committed to a faster time frame.
Przelozny praised the 100-day promise as “exactly the kind of urgency we need.”
If elected, the Liberal Party’s legislation is expected to take some of its cues from Senator Andrew Bragg’s private members bill in 2023 and some from the more recent work done by the Treasury.
Shadow Assistant Treasurer Luke Howarth. Source: Luke Howarth
The government steps up efforts
The Treasury has been quietly drafting legislation this year, which Goodey understands is “almost complete.”
“There’s been prioritization within Treasury, and I know that their team has almost doubled — the digital asset team — for writing that draft legislation. So, there has been an investment in that over the past six months.”
Przelozny characterizes the ALP’s approach as “cautious and methodical, but it’s been slow,” prioritizing consumer protection and risk management.
BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler said the election of a pro-crypto Trump administration and the UK’s draft regulations (released this week) likely forced both sides of politics to finally get serious.
”Australia has ground to make up, and I would anticipate this also being a factor in the savvy move by both parties,” she said.
Sydney is the 10th most crypto-friendly city according to a recent poll.
Stand With Crypto campaign and ASIC
The Stand With Crypto campaign is active in Australia but has been fairly low-key during the campaign, with a focus on debanking.
Coinbase managing director for APAC John O’Loghlen called on whoever wins the election to launch a “Crypto-Asset Taskforce (CATF) within the first 100 days.” This would include industry and consumer representatives to finally get crypto regulations over the line.
“If Australia doesn’t move now, we risk falling even further behind,” he told Cointelegraph.
“The next government must move beyond consultation and into legislation.”
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the local equivalent of the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). It released its own crypto regulatory proposals in December.
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Joy Lam, Binance’s head of global regulatory and APAC legal, told Cointelegraph she doesn’t expect ASIC to suddenly change direction if a new government comes in, as the SEC did.
“ASIC doesn’t make the law,” she said. “I don’t expect a complete kind of 180 because ASIC, it is independent, and it does have its own mandate, but it obviously operates within the legislative framework that the government is going to be setting.”
April 20 poll. Source: YouGov
Who should single-issue crypto voters back?
In February, a poll by YouGov and Swyftx found that 59% of crypto users would vote for a pro-crypto candidate in the federal election above all other issues. That equates to around 2 million Australians and would be enough to determine the outcome of the election one way.
But the similarities between the major parties on crypto regulation are much greater than the differences. Goodey said both sides of politics have genuinely engaged with the industry about its concerns and priorities.
“You can see in some of the language with their media releases that they both released in March, April this year, that they are in agreement on what the industry issues are,” she said.
Owing to Senator Bragg’s campaigning on crypto, the industry sees the Liberal Party as more enthusiastic about digital assets, but after three years in government, the ALP looks to have arrived at roughly the same place.
Recent YouGov and Resolve polls suggest the government is likely to be reelected.
While internal Liberal polling suggests an ALP minority government is a genuine possibility, the major parties would have enough votes between them to pass bipartisan crypto legislation.
Whatever happens, 2025 looks like the year Australia will finally provide the crypto industry with the certainty it needs.
“For industry, the timing is really quite critical now because obviously it’s something that has been discussed and kicked around for quite a few years,” Lam said.
“I would say that we are cautiously optimistic.”
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