🇦🇺 Australia moves crypto platform licensing forward: Senate committee greenlights the 2025 bill

Australia is moving toward a standalone regulatory regime for crypto exchanges and tokenization: a Senate committee backed a bill that effectively brings key players under the AFSL (Australian Financial Services Licence) framework.

➡️ What happened

🟡 The Senate Economics Committee supported the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 and recommended it be passed

🟡 The goal is to close supervision “gaps” over platforms that hold client assets (after cases like FTX)

🟡 The bill now goes to the Senate for debate and a final vote

➡️ Who they want to regulate

🟡 New categories are introduced: Digital Asset Platforms (DAPs) and Tokenised Custody Platforms (TCPs)

🟡 In practice, this targets centralized exchanges and custodial/tokenised platforms that hold client assets

🟡 They propose treating them as financial products under the Corporations Act and ASIC Act to bring them into the AFSL regime

➡️ What changes for licensed platforms

🟡 They will need to meet custody and settlement standards set by ASIC

🟡 There will be tailored disclosure rules for retail users

🟡 Additional platform requirements will apply around conduct, management, and governance

➡️ Who may get exemptions

🟡 Small providers with annual transaction volume < 10m AUD (~$7m) may qualify for an exemption

🟡 Some public blockchain infrastructure providers may also be kept outside the perimeter

➡️ The main dispute: “control” and the risk of catching infrastructure

🟡 The industry warns: broad tests for “digital token” and “factual control” could accidentally pull software wallets and infrastructure into regulation

🟡 A key concern is MPC architectures: if a provider only holds a “key shard,” it could be wrongly classified as a custodian

🟡 They propose clarifying: “factual control” exists only if you can move the asset alone, without the client

🟡 The committee acknowledged the concerns, but chose to fine-tune the perimeter via future regulations rather than rewriting core definitions

➡️ Coinbase: backed the progress, but hit on debanking

🟡 Coinbase called it an important step for Australia’s position in the digital economy

🟡 But highlighted debanking: banks still restrict crypto firms, despite government attempts to address this since 2022

🟡 Their ask: implement the Council of Financial Regulators’ recommendations faster

Conclusion: Australia is moving toward a “crypto = financial service” model, where the key filter is who truly controls client assets. If “factual control” isn’t calibrated carefully, the impact could hit not only exchanges but also the tech layer. Watch the vote — that’s where the real perimeter gets defined.