An opportunity to lead the world on cryptocurrency will pass Australia by unless the government and its financial agencies do not pick up the pace.
In the keynote address to the APAC Blockchain Conference, a copy of which was obtained by NCA NewsWire, Liberal senator Andrew Bragg issued a rallying cry for the government to be given the right to have more power to make digital asset reform a reality.
“I have always considered myself a liberal in the most orthodox sense of the term. I believe in individual liberty, free markets and democratic government,” he said.
“This is why I am instinctively quite reticent about what I am about to call for: giving the government the right resources, personnel, and authority to carry this agenda into effect.”
A recent Senate inquiry, which Senator Bragg chaired, found the market value of the digital asset ecosystem globally was approximately $2.8 trillion, with around 221 million users worldwide.
By 2030, cryptocurrencies and related digital assets could generate $68.4bn in Australia and employ 205,700 people – 17 times the existing workforce, according to a report by professional services company Ernst and Young.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced in December that he would move to establish a regulatory framework to underpin the growing use of crypto assets.
But the plan won’t be ready until year’s end and after the upcoming federal election.
Senator Bragg said he would prefer the outcomes to be reported within the next six months but acknowledged “governments move slowly”.
But he raised questions on if the current “alphabet soup” of federal financial agencies and regulators were equipped to deal with reform.
“There aren’t enough experts or enough awareness of this issue. The government does not have the right powers to deal with these wide, systemic, and broad issues in an effective way,” he said.
Ahead of March 29’s budget, Senator Bragg will call for a boxjmtzywost to Treasury’s funding so that experts in a dedicated unit can work on reforms.
He also will insist on the creation of a “broad, principle-based, regulation making power delegated by law to a minister”.
“We can see the next big thing coming along the horizon: decentralised finance. Replacing financial intermediaries with self-executing contracts promises a revolution in finance unseen since the first joint-stock companies were established in the 1600s,” he said.
“On the other hand, governments move slowly. We are talking on a time horizon of months, which is the Canberra equivalent of the speed of sound!”
