Australian Senate Backs New Crypto Platform Bill

The Corporations Amendment Digital Assets Framework Bill 2025 got its clearest path forward yet on March 16, when Australia's Senate Economics Legislation Committee recommended the legislation be passed — a move that would bring most centralized crypto exchanges and tokenized custody platforms under the country's existing financial services licensing regime for the first time.

What the Bill Actually Does to Crypto Exchanges

Under the proposed rules, 'digital asset platforms' (DAPs) and 'tokenised custody platforms' (TCPs) would be treated as financial products under both the Corporations Act and the ASIC Act. Translation: hold client assets, get an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). The bill was introduced by Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino in November 2025 and carries Treasury's backing.

Licensed platforms must meet ASIC-set custody and settlement standards, comply with retail-client disclosure rules, and operate under platform-specific governance requirements. The Corporations Amendment Digital Assets Framework Bill 2025 is designed to close oversight gaps exposed by the collapse of high-profile firms — FTX being the primary reference point. Providers with annual transaction volumes under AUD $10 million (~$7 million USD) and some public blockchain infrastructure are exempt.

Is the 'Factual Control' Test Going to Break Custody Tech?

What concerns did industry groups raise about the bill's definitions?

The thorniest issue isn't licensing itself — it's who the bill captures. Law firm Piper Alderman warned that the broad 'factual control' and 'digital token' tests could accidentally pull in wallet software providers and infrastructure operators who use multi-party computation (MPC) key management, even when they can't move assets unilaterally.

Ripple Labs backed 'control' as the right regulatory anchor but argued the bill needs better language around MPC setups. Per a statement from the company, a tech provider holding a single key shard in an Australian Financial Services Licence crypto exchanges framework could be misread as a regulated custodian — even if it has zero ability to transfer client assets without cooperation. The committee acknowledged all of this but punted: refine the perimeter later via regulations, not by rewriting the bill now.

Call it pragmatism. Call it a deferred problem. Either way, the technical fine print isn't settled yet.

Australia has the capital, the talent, and the innovation capacity to be a leader in digital assets — but we need clear rules to unlock that potential.

What Does This Mean for Crypto Investors in Australia?

If you're holding assets on an Australian exchange, more oversight isn't inherently bad — AFSL standards mean custody requirements and disclosure rules your platform didn't previously face. ASIC gets a familiar legal toolkit to enforce them.

But John O'Loghlen, Coinbase Australia's APAC managing director, buried the real warning in his statement: 'the anti-competitive practice of debanking is rampant despite the government endorsing measures to address it back in 2022.' His push for Canberra to actually implement the Council of Financial Regulators' recommendations isn't a side note — it's the point. Ripple Labs MPC wallets digital asset custody questions aside, a licence framework won't deliver much if the exchanges it creates still can't open bank accounts. The bill now moves to a full Senate vote at a date still to be confirmed.