ASIC issued a press release this week emphasising that digital asset businesses should move quickly to determine whether they are required to apply for an Australian financial services licence (AFSL), or a variation to an existing AFSL before ASIC’s no-action position expires on 30 June 2026. ASIC’s no‑action relief is a transitional position under which ASIC has indicated it does not intend to take enforcement action in respect of certain unlicensed financial services involv

The County Court of Victoria has delivered a significant ruling in Siegers v Nest Services Ltd & Ors [2026] VCC 15, confirming that orthodox civil procedure rules can be deployed to pursue cryptocurrency fraud, even where perpetrators are unidentified and exchanges are offshore. In a practical win for scam victims, the Court allowed preliminary discovery against multiple cryptocurrency exchanges to obtain information capable of identifying the controllers of wallets through

Following the commencement of Australia’s reformed financial market infrastructure (FMI) regime late last year under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Act 2024 (Cth), ASIC has released Consultation Paper 50 (CS 50). CS 50 proposes targeted updates to ASIC’s regulatory guidance to give practical effect to the new framework and ASIC’s expanded powers. What guidance is changing? ASIC is proposing updates to three cornerstone Regulat

Following the passage of the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 (Cth) (DAF Act) earlier this month, ASIC has published its roadmap for implementing Australia’s new digital assets regulatory framework. The roadmap outlines ASIC’s planned consultation and implementation program over the next 18 months ahead of commencement in April 2027, covering two new financial products: digital asset platforms (DAPs) and tokenised custody platforms (TCPs). This is a

Australia's multi-year payments modernisation agenda has marked another milestone with Treasury releasing the Tranche 1 exposure draft legislation for public consultation . The draft legislation gives practical form to the new function-based regulatory perimeter that is slated to eventually replace Australia's "ageing" non-cash payment ( NCP ) facility authorisation under the financial services licensing regime and the purchased payment facility framework administered princi

The Australian Senate has today approved the Corporation Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 ( the Bill ) which will bring cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians within the Australian financial service licensing framework requiring them to meet the same standards of transparency, integrity and consumer protection that apply to all financial services businesses. For an industry that has navigated uncertainty without clear regulatory footing for years, the passing

The Financial Action Task Force ( FATF ) recently released its Targeted Report on Stablecoins and Unhosted Wallets , positioning stablecoin “freezing” in the secondary market as an emerging AML/CTF control. At the same time, Circle’s recent freeze of USDC across 16 operational wallets demonstrates how these controls operate in practice, and why unlimited freeze powers pose market and security risks as financial markets move on-chain and particularly for decentralised finance

For a decade or more, web3 founders structuring projects out of the Cayman Islands which had any US token holders have had to live with a particularly uncomfortable question: is my token a security under US based laws? For projects with a substantial US token holder base or development team, the answer could mean the difference between regulatory clarity and an enforcement action or Wells notice. That question has now received its clearest answer yet. On March 17, 2026, the S

Whether firms should be permitted to issue stablecoins that provide interest‑like returns has emerged as a key point of contention in Congress’s consideration of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 ( CLARITY Act ), the U.S. crypto market structure bill. In late February, U.S. stablecoin policy has moved back into focus following a series of White House‑brokered meetings between banks and crypto industry participants, alongside a further instance of direct public inte