Australian Advisory Committee Outlines Factors for Easing Crypto Adoption

An advisory committee to the Australian government released a report this week highlighting issues that need attention in order to facilitate the safe and widespread adoption of crypto technology in Australia.

The report, developed by the Cyber Security Industry Advisory Committee and released by the Australian Department of Home Affairs, outlines the risks and opportunities presented by cryptocurrencies and suggests Australia would benefit from the creation of a set of guidelines to protect businesses and investors.

Key Areas For Government
The report recommends the government explore four key areas to help keep Australians safe:

  • setting minimum security standards for exchanges;
  • improving crypto-centric capability and training for law enforcement;
  • adopting best-practices and infrastructure from other jurisdictions; and
  • increasing transparency requirements for operators of blockchain-based products and services such as DEXs and NFT marketplaces.

Opportunities Aplenty
Although the report focuses on how government can regulate the crypto space to minimise criminal activity, it also highlights some of the opportunities crypto presents:

“Distributed ledger technology is useful to businesses beyond its cryptocurrency capabilities. It can increase brand trust through its ability to enhance transparency and provide an immutable record of assets for other purposes.”

Apart from crypto acting as a currency, the four main opportunities mentioned in the study are:

  • supply chain tracking;
  • the tokenisation of traditional assets such as loans and real estate;
  • the possibility for businesses to attract a new set of customers; and
  • the potential for lower energy use than existing financial infrastructure.

Australian Crypto Adoption Growing, Regulation Coming

A report of this kind comes at an important time for the Australian crypto industry, following significant growth in adoption in the past two years. We’re now seeing more and more crypto companies listing on the ASX and large crypto-based events starting to attract interest.

As the industry grows, it’s important that government keeps up and provides both clarity to the market and protection to consumers and businesses.