Australian Senator Andrew Bragg Introduces Crypto Regulation Bill

Andrew Bragg – a liberal senator in the Australian Congress – believes that the lack of digital currency regulations within the nation are hurting Australia’s chances at making its mark in the crypto world. He is now working to create a solid bill that drafts legitimate digital currency regulation for the nation that he plans to introduce the next time parliament convenes.

Andrew Bragg Wants to Regulate Crypto

Crypto regulation is something of a two-sided coin (pardon the pun). On the one hand, digital currency was designed to give people monetary freedom and independence. There weren’t supposed to be any centralized banks or financial institutions in the mix that could tell what you could or couldn’t do with the money you earned. Your crypto was entirely in your control, and no third party could decide things for you.

At the same time, without some degree of regulation, the digital currency arena is likely to never achieve the level of mainstream popularity and legitimacy it deserves. There will be rampant crime, and the space could wind up even further in the dunk tank, so there’s a problem in that while regulation goes against crypto’s initial purposes, it’s likely needed at least on a limited basis.

Bragg is worried about potential competition from China, which he says is way ahead in terms of digital currency development. In a recent interview, he stated:

The Chinese government is piloting what they call the digital yuan, which is a digital form of currency, and they’re currently trialing that outside of China as well, with the UAE [United Arab Emirates], Hong Kong, and Thailand. That currency, if it became widespread in the Pacific, or even within Australia, would give the Chinese state enormous power, economic and strategic power that it doesn’t have today. So, I think we need to be prepared for that. We need to know more about this digital currency, so the bill establishes reporting requirements in that regard.

The bill that Bragg is planning to submit to parliament will also seek to regulate stable coin activity. After the collapse of Terra Luna, Bragg says he’s not convinced that stable currencies are not subject to the same volatility and problems often witnessed with standard digital assets. Thus, he wants to make sure that such a collapse never occurs again.

Keeping People Safe

He stated:

What we’ve seen in the last six months or so has been the collapse of major stable coins, including the U.S. stable coin Terra. The Governor of the Reserve Bank in Australia and Janet Yellen [the US Treasury Secretary] have been calling for regulation, so that if someone wants to issue a stable coin, they are required to hold reserve capital to meet any risk… It’s very important that we protect consumers against any unnecessary harm.

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