US and Australia push crypto regulation
U.S. regulators — the SEC and CFTC — signed a memorandum aimed at unified oversight of digital assets, while Australia’s Senate panel backed a new crypto asset regulation framework this week reported reported. The twin moves accelerate compliance requirements for exchanges, wallets and payments platforms.
The agencies created a Joint Harmonization Initiative on March 11, 2026 to coordinate policymaking, examinations and enforcement across overlapping digital-asset issues (sec.gov). (sec.gov) That Initiative names concrete priorities — clarifying product definitions, modernizing clearing/margin/collateral rules, and streamlining trade and funds reporting — and will be used to align rulemaking and surveillance efforts across both agencies (sec.gov). (sec.gov) Operational leadership for the effort was specified: the Joint Harmonization Initiative will be co‑led by Meghan Tente for the CFTC and Robert Teply for the SEC, per the CFTC release naming the co‑leads and scope of coordination. (cftc.gov) Regulatory lawyers note the MOU itself does not create new statutory authority or binding legal obligations but instead establishes procedures for information‑sharing and coordinated action—an arrangement intended to reduce duplicative enforcement while leaving statutory power unchanged (sgrlaw.com). (sgrlaw.com) In Canberra, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on March 16, 2026 recommended passage of the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025, a bill first introduced to Parliament on Nov. 26, 2025 and formally referred to the committee on Feb. 5, 2026 committee record and reporting (finance.yahoo.com). (aph.gov.au) The Bill would fold many centralized exchanges and tokenised‑custody platforms into the Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) regime, inserting statutory definitions for “digital token,” “digital asset platform” and “tokenised custody platform,” and imposing custody, disclosure and onboarding standards with a proposed six‑month transition for non‑AFSL providers. (aph.gov.au) Stakeholders have flagged implementation risks: the draft introduces a “factual control” test to determine possession of assets (a key compliance trigger) and firms including Ripple and Coinbase have submitted concerns about scope and banking access, including complaints alleging discriminatory debanking by major Australian banks. (afslhouse.com.au) Taken together, the U.S. Initiative’s explicit priorities to “reduce frictions for dually registered exchanges” and Australia’s AFSL pathway to place custodial platforms under ASIC supervisory powers create near‑term checklists — cross‑agency data flows, clarified product labels, and AFSL applications — that centralized exchanges, custodial wallet providers and payments platforms will need to map into their compliance roadmaps. (sec.gov)
