From meme coins to digital wallets, new ASIC guidance offers some clarity for crypto industry
ASIC's eagerly awaited guidance note on digital assets provides helpful direction but not 100% certainty on what will and won't be regulated.
The crypto industry will have to wait a while longer for the federal government regulation it's seeking, but much-anticipated guidance to be unveiled by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Wednesday is seen as a step forward.
Using 13 different examples of products, from digital asset wallets to a meme coin, the regulator is aiming to show businesses how existing financial product definitions might apply to them, which stakeholders in the crypto and digital asset world had strongly desired.
But for those seeking a clear “in” and “out” list for companies to follow when developing digital products and trying to understand where the law applies, ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland told Capital Brief that’s not something the regulator can offer.
“The key thing that people have said to us is that they would like more regulatory certainty,” he said. “And that's something that we can never entirely provide. There is never 100% regulatory certainty.”
