Australia to Define Crypto in ‘Token Mapping’ Exercise

The Australian crypto industry eagerly awaits the government’s digital asset analysis, pegged to bring a solid framework in which to operate.

article-image

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese | Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • The new Labor government is pushing on with plans to define digital assets and fit them for purpose under Australian law.
  • It will also seek to further a formal licensing regime for digital asset businesses as well as custody obligations for third parties

In Australia, the Labor government will this year undertake what it says is a world-first “token mapping” exercise — an attempt to define the various types of digital assets and bring them under an appropriate regulatory framework.

Plans for regulation and consumer protections were set out by a committee last year, the country’s Treasury department said in a joint statement on Sunday.

It’s the first time Australia’s new Labor government has voiced intentions to regulate cryptocurrency for the first time since its win three months ago.

The exercise will inform new rules on digital assets while attempting to shield consumers from extreme market volatility and educate them on possible pitfalls. 

The department alluded to crypto advertisements, “plastered all over big sporting events,” which inspired its intentions to push ahead with regulation.

Crypto.com signed a sponsorship deal with the Australian Football League worth $25 million in January while Swyftx, a domestic exchange, signed a three-year deal for an undisclosed sum in February. 

In both instances, the deals allow for crypto advertisements to appear within sporting arenas and on TV across the country. “As it stands, the crypto sector is largely unregulated and we need to do some work to get the balance right,” the department said.

A formal licensing regime for digital asset businesses and custody obligations for third parties are to make up part of the reform overhaul, according to the Treasury.

Australian crypto industry sees hope in ‘token mapping’

Token mapping formed part of a recommendation by way of the “Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre Senate select committee” last year, spearheaded by a Liberal Party minister. 

As part of that hearing, the bi-partisan committee heard how Australian businesses were denied banking services due to their affiliation with the nascent asset class.

It also found the country had a fragmented approach to digital assets, including taxation.

“The additional benefits of token mapping are many,” Caroline Bowler, CEO of major Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets said in a statement to Blockworks. 

Bowler added: “It will provide greater clarity to crypto investors; aid companies in developing their own blockchain-based innovations; provide guidance to digital currency exchanges; as well as assist regulators in shaping an appropriate regulatory regime.”


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?

article-image

DAWN is positioning itself as a decentralized protocol for gigabit-level internet access

article-image

VanEck Ventures and VanEck’s Digital Assets Alpha Fund invested $2.5 million in DAWN through a strategic funding round, the teams exclusively told Blockworks