Despite Scams, ASIC is Eager to Promote Cryptocurrencies
Despite receiving several accounts of cryptocurrency scams, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission aims to help the local cryptocurrency industry. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, has stated its intention to help the crypto industry, citing the difficulties of controlling new technology.
ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour described the regulator's goals as working to maintain, facilitate, and improve the performance of Australia's financial system and the firms that operate within it while also ensuring that all investors and consumers have the confidence to participate in the system during a panel discussion at Australian Blockchain Week. The Australian Securities Exchange plans to upgrade its Clearing House Electronic Sub register Scheme with a distributed ledger-based system, according to Armour. She mentioned that they had spent a significant amount of time reviewing the ASX's plan to reform the clearing and settlements mechanism. Despite the regulator's ability to collaborate with the crypto asset sector, Armour highlighted ASIC's high number of grievances about crypto scams.
Armour encouraged market members to report bad practices or scam behavior to the regulator, adding that the ASIC would like to take steps to disrupt bad practices in this business. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued an advisory in March this year, warning that dating platforms and applications are rapidly becoming targets for crypto asset scams: beware of accounts that recommend or pressure you to partake in ‘third party' crypto investments. The majority of crypto asset investment opportunities reported to ASIC tend to be blatant fraud with little real investment.
The increased role and popularity of the crypto industry is very vivid today, especially during the covid pandemic as people started looking for ways to generate profits due to the job shortage. One of the main reasons why there is so much support for crypto is the amount of revenue it is generating for the country even during the economic crisis. It especially happens from the gaming sector. Based on hundreds of bitcoin casino reviews found online, a large number of these online crypto gambling platforms actually come from Australia, meaning they adhere to the local regulations.
In June of last year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission warned of a spike in crypto asset scams as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, predicting that total scam activity had risen by 20% between March and May 2020.
General Regulations on Crypto
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) announced in 2018 that more stringent cryptocurrency trading rules will be implemented. In order to comply with the Digital Currency Exchange Registry, crypto exchanges operating in Australia must register with AUSTRAC. The law mandates that companies operating as exchanges or delivering registrable exchange-type facilities recognize and validate their customers, keep records, and comply with government aml/ctf reporting requirements. The digital currency trading registry is maintained by Austrac's CEO, and unregistered exchanges face criminal and financial penalties.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released amended regulatory guidelines for both ICOs and cryptocurrency trading in May 2019. Similarly, Australian regulators ordered several exchanges to delist privacy coins, a form of anonymous cryptocurrency, in August 2020.
Australia has a history of constructive cryptocurrency enforcement, and these new rules show the country's commitment to providing a consistent operating structure for cryptocurrency companies throughout the future. Recent disclosures of serious vulnerabilities in Australia's finance market, on the other hand, will inevitably influence how AUSTRAC addresses future compliance regulation, leading to greater oversight and tighter regulatory restrictions around the board.
Summing It Up
Finally, to sum up, the general attitude towards the crypto industry is very different in every country and some of them appeared to be ready for innovation, while others are meeting the industry with restrictions and regulations. Australia appears to be the one to support the market among the US, Switzerland, Germany, or Japan. The main reason for that appeared to be the benefits of the industry that can be brought by cryptos and it is even more important during the covid pandemic. Regulations that Australia is going to impose are the ones to promote the industry and ensure the protection of the clients at the same time, as the cases of scams and unauthorized actions were very often.