The Australian Senator from New South Wales, Andrew Bragg, has claimed that strong regulations “would provide credibility and validity” to the emerging sector of digital assets in the country.
Speaking to local publication Finder on Tuesday, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Australia as a Technology and Finance Center, commented that the country’s cryptocurrency sector has shown its willingness to adopt greater regulatory oversight in a bid to achieve overall legitimacy.
“To my surprise, I have never seen an industry so interested in regulation”Senator Bragg said.
“Almost everyone I have spoken to in this industry understood that regulation would bring credibility and validity to this sector.”
Bragg added that he hopes new regulations overseeing the cryptocurrency industry will be introduced in Australia in the next 12 months.
Bragg’s comments come after a Senate committee released its “Crypto Report” last month.
The report made 12 recommendations aimed at addressing key issues pertinent to the cryptocurrency sector, including a tax discount for cryptocurrency miners who use renewable energy, new licenses for cryptocurrency exchange, a review of the capital gains tax in decentralized finance and new laws to govern decentralized autonomous organizations.
The document also recognized that the current lack of legislative clarity regarding digital assets that “it is creating uncertainty for project developers, companies, investors and consumers. “
According to Bragg, The recommendations will allow Australia to compete with leading jurisdictions for the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries, including Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Surveys show that about 25% of Australians have owned cryptocurrencies now or previously, making Australia one of the largest per capita adopters of cryptocurrencies.
The Australian Tax Office estimates that there are more than 600 thousand taxpayers who have invested in digital assets in recent years.
Swyftx, a Brisbane-based cryptocurrency broker with more than 100 employees in Australia, called on the government to facilitate the growing demand for access to the digital asset industry.
“Bringing digital assets within a sensible and tolerable regulatory perimeter is a much better solution than forcing consumers to operate outside of it with unregulated foreign providers,” Swyftx told the committee.
According to the report, Blockchain Australia also commented on the need for Australia to enact adequate regulatory reform to keep up with other jurisdictions,
“Australia is lagging behind international jurisdictions in developing a fit-for-purpose cryptoasset framework,” This was commented by the industry association.
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