Australia Takes “Token Mapping” Approach to Crypto Regulation

• Australia plans on reviewing how cryptocurrency assets are managed this year. this will be done by the Labor government of Australia 
• Crypto advertisements catalyze the country’s treasury government to pioneer the “Token Mapping” exercise

Australia will become the first country to pioneer the token mapping exercise.The Australian Taxation Office estimates that more than a million taxpayers have interacted with the crypto asset ecosystem since 2018. Australians are experiencing a digital revolution across all sectors of the economy, but regulation is struggling to keep pace and adapt with the crypto asset sector.

The previous government dabbled in crypto asset regulation but prematurely jumped straight to options without first understanding what was being regulated. The new government of minister Anthony Albanese is taking a more serious approach to working out what is in the ecosystem and what risks need to be looked at first.

Australian Treasurer Dr. Jim Chalmers MP said

As it stands, the crypto sector is largely unregulated, and we need to do some work to get the balance right so we can embrace new and innovative technologies while safeguarding consumers.

Australias token mapping will improve the way the regulatory system manages crypto assets. This will help keep up with developments and help consumers understand the extreme market volatility.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government will make “token mapping” a priority this year to help identify which digital asset tokens are being used in Australia, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said https://t.co/xHlnkZEiLC

— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) August 22, 2022

Crypto advertisements in sports arenas.

One of the reasons for the rapid increase of crypto assets is advertisement. Early this year Crypto signed a sponsorship deal with the Australian football league worth a 25million.  As a result of this deal,  advertisements promoting crypto are placed in sporting arenas. A domestic exchange account, namely Swyftx, also made a deal with Crypto.com this year.

With the increasingly widespread proliferation of crypto assets – to the extent that crypto advertisements can be all over big sporting events. The treasury saw the need to make sure customers engaging with crypto are adequately informed, educated, and aware of the risks at hand.

The government treasury will first prioritize ‘token mapping’ work in 2022, which will help identify how crypto assets. Token mapping involves uncovering the characteristics of all digital asset tokens. Charting the type of crypto asset, its underlying code, and any other defining technological feature will be the main agenda

.Chalmers a government official added:

“The aim will be to identify notable gaps in the regulatory framework, progress work on a licensing framework, review innovative organizational structures, look at custody obligations for third party custodians of crypto assets and provide additional consumer safeguards.”

The token mapping exercise allows the identification of related services that should be regulated in the crypto world. This hasn’t been done anywhere else in the world, so it will make Australia a leader in this work.