Australian blockchain says the government still sees the industry as the “Wild West”

Blockchain Australia, an association representing the local crypto industry, warned that the country has fallen behind in terms of regulation due to the excessive insistence on the dismissive “Wild West” narrative.

The association has Proactively engage with the country In recent months, as the government continues to review the future of blockchain and financial technology and the country’s regulation.

Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas appeared before the Australian Senate Special Committee as a technology and financial center last week Say The association strongly opposes the view that the crypto space is still “a bit wild west” and “very deliberately requires regulators to contact us.” Tracing the emergence of the narrative back to the ICO boom in 2017-18, Vallas accused the government of responding to this phenomenon in an overly passive “wait and see” approach:

“landscape […] Today is completely different. We have not seen any interest in ICOs in Australia. We think that regulators are unwilling to let this happen again, so we have a new chapter, but this argument has always existed. […] When people don’t understand this space, they tend to favor the Wild West and the evil and bad actors. “

Vallas’s argument was widely endorsed by Michael Acima, a partner at the Australian law firm Piper Alderman, who specializes in digital law, focusing on financial technology, regulatory technology, and the blockchain and digital asset industries. However, unlike Vallas, Acima compares the regulatory lag in Australia with the situation in some other jurisdictions (especially the United States). In the latter, he claimed that in crimes and other cases related to cryptocurrency transactions, he claimed that people “are effectively reading the tea leaves that have already been prosecuted, trying to understand.”

related: ASX issues a custody warning on cryptocurrency exchanges, calling for better regulations

Following Vallas and Acima, Genesis Block’s managing director Chloe White told the committee that the Australian government is only intermittently focusing on the industry, and mainly during hype. She said that local policy makers did not continue to interact with the space during quiet times, but failed to “really understand the space and its trajectory” and “have been in a very passive position, and policy recommendations and analysis have always been paid attention to,” she said. .

Earlier this year, Australian Conservative Party Senator Andrew Bragg believed that if Australia desires “Stay ahead“And promote technological and financial innovation.