Recently, an Australian Government Minister responsible for Financial Services, Superannuation and the Digital economy announced the Terms of Reference for an inquiry into the Tax Treatment of Digital Assets and Transactions in Australia.
On 8 December 2021, the Australian Government announced that it would consult on approaches to licencing digital currency exchanges and consider custody requirements for crypto assets, with advice to be provided to Government on policy options by mid-2022. In this regard it released a discussion paper “Crypto asset secondary service providers: Licensing and custody requirements”. Refer to link Crypto asset secondary service providers: Licensing and custody requirements | Treasury.gov.au
The Government Discussion paper defined crypto assets as:
A crypto asset is a digital representation of value that can be transferred, stored, or traded electronically. Crypto assets use cryptography and distributed ledger technology.
Today, crypto assets have three primary uses: as an investment; as a means of exchange; and to access goods and services. Crypto assets include cryptocurrencies like BTC, Ripple and Litecoin, utility tokens like filecoin and basic attention token, and security tokens. They may run on their own Blockchain or use an existing platform like Ethereum. Crypto assets may also include non-fungible tokens (NFTs). [Emphasis added] Crypto assets are a subset of digital assets, that uses cryptographic proof to determine ownership.
Can you please inquire into and report back to us what CCP’s position is with regard to the regulation of crypto assets?