Australia's financial regulator has signalled that digital assets should largely be regulated within existing financial services laws rather than through an entirely new crypto-specific rulebook. In a policy paper presented at the Melbourne Money & Finance Conference, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) argued that most crypto asset activities mirror longstanding financial functions.
Australia Financial Watchdog Signals Crypto Should Fit Existing Laws
11 March 2026 - 16:20 CET
By Sandmark staff
Dr. Rhys Bollen, senior executive leader for fintech at ASIC, said digital assets represent new technological instances of longstanding activities. He noted that finance continues to revolve around three core functions: capital allocation, payments and risk management, regardless of technological innovation.
Shifting focus to functional oversight
This approach moves the regulatory needle away from the underlying technology and towards the economic purpose of an asset. By treating tokenized securities under the same umbrella as traditional stocks, the regulator aims to bring crypto into the mainstream financial fold without the confusion of a separate legal regime. This potentially offers investors the same structural guardrails found in traditional banking and share trading, while avoiding the risks of excessive or insufficient oversight that comes with isolated rules.
For those navigating the market, the policy suggests that stability and consumer protection are being prioritised over novelty. Rather than creating a "crypto-only" sandbox, the integration into the Digital Assets Framework Bill 2025 seeks to ensure that if a digital token acts as a payment instrument or a risk-management product, it is held to the same standards as its traditional counterparts.
Intermediaries remain central source of risk
The paper also highlights intermediaries such as trading platforms, custody providers and lending services as a central source of risk. Many of the most significant failures in the sector have stemmed from the conduct of these service providers rather than the underlying tokens themselves, ASIC noted, pointing to the 2022 collapse of the exchange FTX.
Australia's proposed legislative changes reflect this thinking by integrating digital asset platforms and token custody services into the existing financial services regulatory structure. This shift acknowledges that while the technology may be new, the risks of mismanagement and the need for transparency remain unchanged.
