Snapshot
- The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 (Cth) brings digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms within the Australian financial services licensing regime, with the new framework commencing on 9 April 2027.
- The regime extends beyond conventional cryptocurrency exchanges, focusing on factual control and possession of digital tokens and underlying assets, meaning minor differences in transaction structures may produce materially different regulatory outcomes.
- Lawyers advising digital asset businesses must consider the new framework alongside existing financial services, AML/CTF, credit, consumer, taxation and other laws, and should not assume clients can wait until 2027 to address licensing obligations.
Australia has one of the strongest levels of consumer digital asset adoption in the world and some of the most innovative entrepreneurs, both domestically and abroad. Institutional adoption remains at a much earlier phase when compared with other leading markets but this is changing. Against this backdrop, Australia has a rapidly expanding regulatory framework for digital assets. Developments are occurring in short succession through a combination of regulatory reform, regulator guidance clarifying the breadth of the existing financial services regime, and judicial decisions with significant implications for the digital asset ecosystem and traditional financial services. For legal practitioners, it is important to be aware of these developments and to take extreme care when advising clients. Minor factual variations can have material impacts on the characterisation of a given transaction, how it should be documented and the obligations that flow.
