Australia wants to tame the wild world of crypto That's easier said than done
Australia Cryptocurrency
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Australia wants to tame the wild world of crypto.Thats easier said than done
Watching State of Origin last Sunday night, it was hard to miss a cryptocurrency ad. Just as the AFL and other sports have lucrative sponsorships from crypto firms, NRL has a partnership with crypto exchange Swyftfx, whose brand was across the grass. It is easy to see some of the similarities between high-risk cryptocurrency trading and sports betting – another great source of sponsorship funding in professional sports.
It is also easy to see why consumer groups are concerned about the mass market promotion of highly speculative trading. For example, the Consumer Action Law Center states that crypto exchanges should be subject to a ban on advertising, as are speculators. Seems like a fair point to me.But one of Australia's leading financial experts, Kevin Davies, Emeritus Professor of Finance at the University of Melbourne, worries that declaring all crypto as financial products could backfire.
The Bank for International Settlements published a piece of research last week suggesting that retail investors may not fully realize the risks of crypto investing, pointing out that new investors in crypto "have been exposed to past price increases". were following".
Its modelling found that for every 10 per cent increase in the Bitcoin price, there was a 3 per cent lift in the number of crypto app users. In Australia, regulators have also started requiring financial firms to show their products are “likely to be consistent with consumers’ objectives, financial situation and needs”.
If cryptos are to be regulated as financial products, they must meet this hurdle as well. CBA's crypto trading foray has recently been put on hold as it concerns regulators, but the bank has ensured that it wants to continue with the pilot. But if or when the product eventually launches, it is expected that the bank will be careful about which customers it allows to access crypto trading through its app.
The drop in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been brutal, and a lot of tricky regulatory questions hang over the crypto sector. It will be interesting to see how the country's largest bank balances all this against the will of many customers on crypto assets.
Crypto Exchanges, Bitcoin Price, Crypto Trading, Crypto Assets, Crypto Sector, Crypto Firms, Crypto App users, Cryptocurrency