New bill aimed at stablecoin, digital Yuan regulation drafted by Australian senator

Senator Bragg advises to implement regulatory guidelines to control stablecoins

Published: Sep 20, 2022 05:46:53 PM IST

Updated: Sep 20, 2022 05:49:18 PM IST

Australian Parliament Building. Image: Shutterstock

Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has unveiled a new law that would crack down on stablecoins, digital asset exchanges, and China's e-Yuan. Yuan is China's official digital currency.

In the new draft proposal, named Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022, licences are proposed for digital asset exchanges, digital asset custody services, stablecoin issuers, and transparency requirements for e-Yuan facilitators in Australia.

Senator Bragg said in a statement, "Australia must keep pace with the global race for regulation on digital assets…it is essential that the parliament drives law reform."

According to Senator Bragg, Australia needs a meaningful programme for managing risk and disruption brought on by forming a CBDC. This is partly because the nation's economy is 'very exposed.'

The goal of this particular act, according to Senator Bragg, is to give an effective regulatory framework as well as to provide for the reporting of information by certain banks that facilitate the use or availability of digital Yuan in Australia. It further aims to provide additional duties regarding this legislation for governing bodies and the regulation of activities relating to digital assets and digital Yuan.

The Liberal senator also asserted that Australia wouldn't gain from having a CBDC because privacy issues cannot be controlled and that the Australian government must put something on the table to deal with other CBDCs being implemented.

The new bill is up for public comment until October 31, 2022.

Andrew Bragg has been a crypto advocate since he was elected as a senator in 2019. Senator Bragg has pushed for a clear regulatory framework for digital asset and crypto enterprises since 2021 to prevent local businesses from moving overseas.

With no fixed perspective at the time, Senator Bragg claimed that while chairing the committee for digital assets, he conducted an inquiry into these matters and educated himself about the risks and potential.

The Australian Labor government is working on crypto asset reforms. This move aims to better the way Australia's regulatory framework handles crypto assets. The regulation of crypto assets and related services will be established by token mapping work, which Treasury officials said they would prioritise in 2022.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash