Australia has taken a major step toward cryptocurrency exchanges and custody providers regulation with the introduction of the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025. The proposal marks the country's first comprehensive regime for digital asset platforms and tokenised custody services putting a strong emphasis on licensing, investor protection, and productivity gains. New crypto licensing rules under ASIC oversight
Under the bill, crypto exchanges and digital asset custodians must hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). This change brings them under the direct oversight of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), rather than relying solely on AUSTRAC registration to meet anti-money laundering obligations.
Lawmakers define two new financial product categories: 'digital asset platforms' and 'tokenised custody platforms.' Digital asset platforms cover businesses that hold client crypto and offer services such as trading, transfers, staking or settlement. Tokenised custody platforms include operators of real-world assets such as property, bonds, or commodities that issue redeemable tokens pegged one-for-one to those assets.
Licensed platforms must comply with ASIC requirements on custody, settlement, and client money. They should have adequate arrangements for the efficiencies in trades, the holding of assets on trust, the management of clients' instructions, and liquidity sourcing. The bill also requires platforms to provide customers with service guides that explain fees, key risks and how the platform manages digital assets.
The framework includes exemptions for 'genuinely small and lower-risk' operators. Platforms that hold less than A$5,000 in digital assets per customer and process under A$10 million in total transaction volume per year do not need a full AFSL, provided their crypto activity remains incidental to their main business. Supporters argue that this approach allows early-stage projects to operate without facing full financial services requirements from day one.
To help larger exchanges and custodians adjust, the bill builds in an 18-month transition period before the licensing rules take full effect. During that time, firms must review how they safeguard client assets, adapt internal systems to ASIC standards and prepare disclosure documents. Treasury estimates that a safer and more efficient digital asset sector could unlock up to A$24 billion in annual productivity gains for the Australian economy.
The legislation has passed its first reading in the House of Representatives and moved to a second reading, where members will debate its core principles. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government holds a majority in the lower house, so observers expect the bill to advance there. The stricter test will come in the Senate, where Labor will likely need crossbench and opposition support to enact the reforms.
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