Australia's ASIC will implement broader regulation in the encryption sector based on the latest guidelines.

According to Mars Finance, as reported by Decrypt, the Australian government is about to launch new legislation for digital assets, while the financial regulator ASIC has made significant updates to its guidelines, expanding the applicability of the existing Financial Services Law to encryption businesses. The revised Info Sheet 225 released on Tuesday clarifies under what circumstances digital asset products and services constitute financial products under the Corporations Act, and expands the terminology from “cryptographic assets” to encompass “digital assets,” including virtual assets, tokenized products, and coin-based assets. Although new laws have not been formulated, the guidelines aim to provide certainty ahead of the implementation of the Treasury's “Digital Asset Platforms and Payment Service Providers Act,” which will introduce a licensing system for exchanges, custodians, and stablecoin issuers. ASIC reiterated that income-generating Tokens, staking programs, and asset-backed stablecoins must operate under a license. The final version of the guidelines added 5 cases to a total of 18, covering scenarios from exchange tokens, game NFTs to staking services, and clarified that custodians must meet a net asset threshold of 10 million Australian dollars (unless for ancillary services). ASIC emphasized that Australian law applies to offshore entities marketing to local users, and global platforms cannot evade regulation based on geographic location.