The Australian government endorses six world-leading crypto reforms

<p>The Australian government is seriously considering the implementation of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and has endorsed a slew of forward-thinking regulatory crypto-proposals as part of a new "payments and crypto reform plan."</p> <p>The reforms, according to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, "will firmly place Australia among a handful of leading countries in the world."</p> <p>The reform plan is said to be the biggest shake-up of the Australian payments system since the 1990s, with the innovative proposals put forwards by an Australian Senate Committee in September laying the groundwork for the crypto-related groundwork.</p> <p>According to the Australian Financial Review, the government supports six of the Senate Committee's proposed reforms, including a licencing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges, laws governing decentralised autonomous organisations, and a common access regime for new payment platforms.</p> <p>Two proposals relating to tax and financial compliance have been referred to their respective government bodies for consideration, while another proposal relating to renewable energy Bitcoin mining tax breaks has been rejected.</p> <p>In a speech today at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Treasurer and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party Josh Frydenberg outlined the government's plans for crypto regulation, taxation, and CBDCs (AICC).</p> <p>"What is clear is that if we embrace these developments, Australia will have a tremendous opportunity to capitalise on the convergence of finance and technology," he said.</p> <p>Concerning CBDCs, an unnamed senior government source told The Australian on December 7 that a retail scale "RBA [Reserve Bank of Australia] backed Bitcoin or cryptocurrency" is being considered and will be a key component of the government's regulatory reform on digital payments.</p> <p>During his AICC speech, Frydenberg was upbeat about crypto asset reform:</p> <p>"These reforms will address the ambiguity that can exist regarding the regulatory and tax treatment of c