ASIC Commissioner Katherine Armor believes that as the digital asset industry matures, crypto companies should follow the same rules as financial institutions.
Speaking at the Blockchain Australia conference, Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) Commissioner Catherine Armor said that firms dealing with cryptocurrencies will be subject to scrutiny to meet the same standards required of traditional financial companies.
This is due to the fact that the field of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is developing every year, and since it is related to finance, its participants should reconsider their approaches to cooperation with regulators. Therefore, ASIC intends to increasingly push the cryptocurrency business to ensure that the developed ideas, products and proposals have a solid legal basis.
“The first product using crypto assets was introduced several years ago, with the participation of the ASIC innovation center. Now, many years later, crypto companies need to implement more sustainable business models to interact with us in the same way that financial companies do. We expect the cryptocurrency industry to also do a lot of independent work to understand the intricacies of regulation,” Armor said.
The ASIC commissioner cited statistics released by the government this week. More than 800,000 Australians have made digital asset transactions in the past 12 months, up 61% from the previous year. This proves that cryptocurrencies are becoming as common as conventional financial services.
The introduction of cryptocurrencies will inevitably lead to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and company law being followed not only by large trading platforms, but also by small crypto-currency organizations, Armor said. To do this, it is necessary to oblige them to obtain licenses, as well as to clarify in the legislation which crypto assets can be considered financial products.
Earlier, ASIC Chairman Joe Longo urged citizens not to get involved in investing in cryptocurrencies, so as not to lose their funds due to their volatility and not become victims of scammers. Longo warned that this year the agency will pay special attention to cryptocurrencies.
Source: Bits
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