Liberal Senator Bragg plans to introduce a private members’ bill at the next sitting of Parliament, including new rules for digital asset exchanges, digital asset custody services, stablecoin issuers and disclosure requirements for e-Yuan facilitators in Australia .

In a statement released on Monday, the senator announced that to fix Labour’s alleged failings, he was releasing a draft bill for consultation, called the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Act 2022.

“It is essential that Parliament leads legislative reform when a Labor government is lazy and self-serving,” Senator Bragg said.

Speaking to ABC's RN Breakfast on Monday, the senator explained that in addition to regulating the use of crypto at home, his bill also addresses the rise of central bank-issued digital currencies, including one from China.

“The Chinese government is piloting what they call a digital yuan, which is a digital form of currency, and they currently control that outside of China, as well as with the UAE, Hong Kong and Thailand.

"Now this currency - if it becomes widespread in the Pacific or even in Australia - will give the Chinese state enormous power, economic and strategic power that it doesn't have today, and so I think we have to be prepared for that." We need to know more about this digital currency and that is why the bill establishes reporting requirements in this regard,” he explained.

Citing "enormous risks to consumers" and accusing the Labor government of "starting from scratch", Senator Bragg said his bill aims to "show that it won't be too hard to get regulation" in crypto the space.

Last month, the Albany government announced the world's first "token mapping" project to begin this year with the aim of "improving" the way Australia's regulatory system manages crypto-assets.

Token Mapping will seek to determine the characteristics of all digital tokens available in Australia, providing the government with important knowledge to address new crypto regulation.

"This has not been done anywhere else in the world, so it will make Australia leaders in this work," Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and the Treasury Andrew Lee said in a joint statement in August.

The government's ultimate goal is to ensure that "customers engaged in crypto are adequately informed and protected," but in a way that incorporates new and innovative technologies.

While the government's determination to tighten crypto rules was welcomed by experts, Professor Barney Tan, head of the School of Information Systems and Technology Management at UNSW Business School, warned that it could have a significant impact on financial services and fintech companies.

"They will have to offer more transparency about the cryptoassets they offer," Mr Tan said.

The Australian Taxation Office estimates that more than one million taxpayers have interacted with the crypto-asset ecosystem since 2018. this way.

Maja Garatsa Djurdjevic

Maya's career in journalism spans more than a decade in finance, business and politics. Now an experienced editor and reporter in all elements of the financial services sector, before joining Momentum Media, Maya reported for several established news outlets in South East Europe, looking at key processes in post-conflict societies.