The High Court of Australia has ruled in favour of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) against Web3 Ventures Pty Ltd, trading as Block Earner. In the judgment delivered on 17 June 2026, the High Court of Australia found in favour of ASIC, holding that Block Earner’s fixed‑yield ‘Earner’ product fell within Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The decision overturns the earlier Full Federal Court decision which found that the offering was not a

On 25 June 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued an updated class no‑action letter extending both the scope and deadline of its transitional relief for certain digital asset businesses to 30 September 2026. ASIC’s no‑action relief provides a transitional policy position not to take enforcement action against certain unlicensed digital asset businesses, provided they lodge an AFSL (or variation) application by 30 September 2026, enter into an

What is changing? Australia’s Travel Rule starts on 1 July 2026. It is the next phase of Australia’s AML/CTF reform journey, and the point where policy turns into practice. From that date, reporting entities involved in transfers of value, including virtual asset transfers, will need to collect, verify and, where required, pass on information about the payer and payee, unless an exemption applies. For Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), such as crypto exchanges, custodia

Four major crypto regulatory deadlines are clustering within a 30-day window — a rare alignment that leaves little room for businesses that have been watching and waiting. Australia's ASIC no-action relief expires soon. The EU's MiCA transition period closes July 1. The US Treasury's stablecoin BSA rulemaking is in its final phase with a final rule expected by July 18. And in Washington, a Senate floor vote on the CLARITY Act, the bill that would define the division of jurisd

Within the space of four days, two major jurisdictions have moved to regulate AI-generated non-consensual imagery with different approaches. On 14 June 2026, the European Parliament formally approved amendments to the EU AI Act through the so-called Digital Omnibus on AI package, including a new prohibition on apps and AI systems that generate or manipulate non-consensual intimate imagery. On 18 June 2026, the US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced the NO FAKES Ac

Japan's parliament has passed legislation bringing crypto assets under the country's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), placing them on the same regulatory footing as stocks and other financial products. The bill, which was approved by Cabinet in April 2026, completes a deliberate shift in Japan's regulatory approach — moving crypto from its longstanding home under the Payment Services Act, where it was treated primarily as a means of payment, to a securities-styl

Within the last year, a serious problem has emerged in the legal system: lawyers submitting briefs and other documents containing hallucinated cases, quotes and made up legal arguments. As courts becomes increasingly frustrated by the problem, we are seeing amendments to the rules of court to make very clear what the lawyer on record for a matter has to deliver up to the court. ChatGPT - Double check my citations! One of the most widely reported instance remains the case of

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced the findings of Project Acacia, a collaborative research initiative between the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) that sought to explore the role of tokenised finance in Australia’s wholesale asset market. The final report provides a detailed and practical exploration of how tokenised finance could reshape wholesale markets in Australia. Drawing on 20 industry-led use cases, the report demonstra

AUSTRAC has recently launched two supervisory campaigns targeting virtual asset businesses as new AML/CTF reforms come into effect. One of these initiatives, the “ramps and rails” campaign, specifically targets over-the-counter crypto-to-cash operators. The other targets local digital currency exchange operators. This follows the transition from the “digital currency exchange” regime to the expanded “virtual asset service provider” (VASP) framework earlier this year. The VASP