The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) updated its guidance on how existing laws apply to digital assets, providing greater legal certainty for market participants.
ASIC released a revised version of INFO 225, clarifying which digital assets are considered financial products under Australian law.
According to the new guidance, a digital asset qualifies as a financial product if it meets at least one of the definitions set out in the Corporations Act, meaning it:
- serves as a means of financial investment;
- represents an interest in a managed investment scheme;
- is a security;
- is a derivative;
- constitutes a non-cash payment facility.
ASIC noted that most popular digital assets fall within the scope of financial products under current legislation. These include many stablecoins, wrapped tokens, tokenized securities, interests in investment schemes, as well as capital-raising tokens and digital asset derivatives.
Moreover, digital wallets that enable users to make payments to third parties are regulated as non-cash payment facilities.
All such assets are treated as financial products, meaning their providers must obtain a financial services licence to operate legally.
ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland stated that distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and tokenization are fundamentally transforming global financial markets. He emphasized that the updated guidance gives businesses the legal clarity they need to safely drive innovation in Australia.
To ease the transition, ASIC announced a “no-action” period until June 30, 2026, during which it won’t take enforcement action against companies preparing to obtain a licence or adjust their operations to comply with the new rules. The regulator also plans to grant temporary relief for distributors of certain stablecoins and wrapped tokens, as well as for custodians of digital assets classified as financial products.
The proposed measures are open for public consultation until November 12, 2025. The decision follows feedback from the industry during consultations on CP 381, held in December 2024, which focused on licensing and regulatory approaches for digital assets.
Despite the transition period, ASIC stressed that it’ll continue to take firm action against serious violations and cases causing significant consumer harm.
The original INFO 225 guidance was first published in 2017 and has been updated several times since. The latest version aligns with the government’s Digital Assets Platform (DAP) reform program and supports the Reserve Bank of Australia’s initiatives, including Project Acacia, which focuses on developing the tokenized asset market.
