Faryar Shirzad said at an Australian Senate hearing that many countries have already set clear timelines for the emergence of cryptoasset laws. For example, in the European Union, the Cryptocurrency Regulation Bill (MiCA) will be operational by early 2025 at the latest. In June, the UK passed the Financial Services and Cryptocurrencies Act, which deems digital asset transactions to be a regulated activity. This is why Australia lags behind the European Union, the UK and Singapore in regulating cryptocurrencies. Even Hong Kong has formed a clear structure to regulate cryptocurrencies, the top Coinbase executive added.
<blockquote.
“Hong Kong regulators have shown interest in introducing cryptocurrencies into their financial system. In about nine months, they were able to issue recommendations to regulate the industry, introduce a bill, finalize it, and then implement it. All this in a very short period of time. Here’s an example of how we need to work on regulating cryptocurrencies to stay competitive!” – proclaimed Shirzad.
Kraken Australia managing director Jonathon Miller echoed his colleague: regulatory uncertainty is making it very difficult for local cryptocurrency exchanges to remain competitive. Recently, many Australian banks have banned customers from making deposits on cryptocurrency exchanges, considering such transactions to be high-risk. Among them is the Australian banking group National Australia Bank (NAB).
Also last week, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revoked the license of the local branch of the bankrupt FTX exchange.