Startup Daily TV: Senator Andrew Bragg reveals review into cryptocurrency taxation in Australia

The Australian government has released the Terms of Reference for a review into the taxation of digital transactions and assets such as cryptocurrency as part of its ongoing plan to embrace and regulate the digital assets sector. 

Appearing on Startup Daily TV today, Senator Andrew Bragg, who led the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre, said the review will look to streamline and clarify taxation on digital assets rather than increasing the overall tax burden.

The Board has been asked to complete its review by the end of 2022.

“There will be a broad-based review of all crypto taxation because… there are multiple problems here,” Senator Bragg said.

“What we want is to have a system where Australia is a competitive place to do business – there’s not incidental taxation occurring. And we’re only taxing real gains.”

Meanwhile, the federal government has released a paper seeking industry’s feedback by the end of May on proposed new crypto asset licensing and custody requirements. The paper also covers the first stage of a broader token mapping exercise to be completed by the end of 2022.

The Government is also releasing the Terms of Reference covering its request for advice from the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) on potential policy responses to address the issue of de-banking for financial technology firms, digital currency exchanges, and remittance providers.

The CFR has been asked to provide advice to the Government by the end of June 2022.

Further details on crypto asset licensing and custody consultation is here.

Senator Bragg outlined his views and the state of play for crypto regulation in the opening address at Blockchain Australia Week today.

Minister for Digital Economy Jane Hume spoke about the market licence regime for crypto exchanges later in the day saying it would be like the “healthy heart tick of approval” for crypto exchanges with an “Australian-made badge of approval”.

Senator Bragg joined us on the Startup Daily show today to take us through the government’s proposal.

Click on the link below to hear the interview.

You can turn into the Startup Daily show every weekday from 2-2.40pm on ausbiz.com.au, for the latest news in tech and startups.

If you can’t make it, then you can always catch up on what our guests had to say on demand via the ausbiz site. It’s free once you sign up.