The Australian Parliament approved a digital assets bill that introduces licensing requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and custodial services, establishing a unified legal framework for the industry.
The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 passed both houses of the Australian Parliament, marking a key step toward comprehensive regulation of the country’s digital asset market.
The document amends existing corporate and financial regulations, extending licensing requirements to operators of crypto platforms and token custody services. It introduces a specialized legal framework for digital assets, including definitions of key terms such as “digital token,” “digital asset platform,” and “tokenized custodial storage.”
According to explanatory materials, the regulation aims to enhance investor protection and market transparency, while granting additional regulatory powers to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Treasurer of Australia.
Supporting documents clarify the scope of regulation. In particular, simply holding digital tokens isn’t considered a regulated activity, the key criterion is holding assets “on behalf of or for the benefit of another person.” At the same time, services that only provide technological infrastructure, such as multi-party computation (MPC) solutions, aren’t classified as platform operators if they don’t directly control the assets.
The document also clarifies requirements for custodial platforms — asset storage must be conducted specifically in the interest of third parties, not just in practice, allowing for a clearer distinction between market participants and technology providers.
The bill will now be submitted for royal assent, the final formal stage before it comes into force. The timeline and conditions for implementation are expected to be determined after all formal procedures are completed.
In late October 2025, ASIC representatives updated guidance on the application of existing laws to digital assets, providing greater legal clarity for participants in Australia’s cryptocurrency market. This was particularly important given the country’s large number of digital asset users and the growing range of related products, such as mortgage lending backed by Bitcoin.
