(Kitco News) - Andrew Bragg, a liberal Senator in Australia, has released a new draft bill designed to clamp down on digital asset exchanges, stablecoins, and China’s central bank digital currency, the e-Yuan.
In a statement that accompanied the draft bill, Senator Bragg cautioned that as a result of inaction, “Australia is falling behind on consumer protection and investment promotion,” and stressed that the country “must keep pace with the global race for regulation of digital assets.”
“As a result of the inaction, I am releasing a draft bill for consultation. The draft bill is called the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022,” the statement from Bragg read.
The new bill introduces licenses for digital asset exchanges, digital asset custody services and stablecoin issuers, and “establishes disclosure requirements for facilitators of the e-Yuan in Australia, as the e-Yuan is the first CBDC released by a central bank of a major economy.”
Once approved, digital asset exchanges, custody service providers, and stablecoin issuers will be required to hold recognized foreign licenses in order to operate in Australia.
License holders will be required to comply with digital asset custody requirements such as designating key personnel in Australia responsible for operating the digital asset custody services, following all auditing, assurance and disclosure procedures, and adhering to minimum capital requirements.
Under the new bill, stablecoin issuers will be required to hold the face value of their liabilities, which must be “kept in reserve with an ADI in Australia in the form of Australian dollars or a foreign national currency.”
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Chinese state-owned banks that facilitate the availability or use of the digital e-Yuan will be required to report on Australian businesses that accept e-Yuan payments, the number of digital wallets facilitated by the designated bank, and the total amount held in these wallets.
The bill would also require APRA and the Reserve Bank of Australia to provide annual reports based on reports from Chinese state-owned banks for the Minster and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
The draft bill is open to stakeholder consultation until Oct. 31.
This latest development follows the recent announcement that the country is planning to establish a cryptocurrency monitoring task force that will monitor all crypto-related transactions in the country, and has asked for public comments regarding draft legislation that would exclude cryptocurrencies from being taxed as a foreign currency if passed.
