The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has established baseline risk management requirements for regulated firms dealing with crypto assets, and also a policy roadmap for implementing more requirements over the next three years.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) issued rules for regulated firms engaging with crypto assets on Thursday, whereas AUSTRAC issued guidance to prevent unlawful usage of digital currencies.
APRA Chair Wayne Byres, the authority, underlined the importance of proper research and risk assessments when engaging with crypto assets.
Growing popularity of crypto in Australian community
Nearly 800,000 Australian taxpayers traded in digital assets in the last 3 years, according to the Australian Taxation Office. According to other organisations’ surveys, such as comparison site Finder, the number of Australians who own cryptocurrency might be as high as 18%.
As more businesses and goods join the market, regulatory pressure is increasing. Last month, FTX revealed ambitions to expand into Australia, and just this week, 4 ETF issuers promised to pay the margin requirements for Cboe Australia to list new crypto-related products.
Australian Border Force using blockchain
The Australian Border Force completed a blockchain-based trade procedure digitization experiment with collaborators in Singapore.
However, APRA was not the only Australian government agency to make a crypto statement. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the nation’s monetary intelligence agency in charge of tracking financial transactions associated with crime, has recently issued rules for avoiding unlawful usage of digital currencies.