Speaking at Senate estimates last week, ASIC chair Joe Longo stated that while he believes cryptocurrency is “highly speculative”, his role is to enforce the law as it stands, adding that those views don’t make it illegal.
Answering questions posed by Senator Andrew Bragg, Longo said: “Our approach to regulation of crypto is no different to our approach to regulating any other product or service.
“We [ASIC] are technology neutral.”
Acknowledging he has “warned consumers” about the “clearly highly risky” nature of cryptocurrency, Longo said: “Our role is to enforce the law as it stands.”
“I think it is highly speculative activity. I do have personal views,” Longo added.
“I don’t think I can be any clearer in saying it is highly speculative, risky and should not be undertaken lightly. Now, that doesn’t mean it is illegal.”
Longo added there is a clear need for greater transparency in the cryptocurrency space.
“I have no intention of withdrawing my views on the riskiness of this behaviour,” Longo said.
Speaking at the ASIC Annual Forum last year, the regulator’s chair dismissed bitcoin’s price surge, calling it both speculative and environmentally harmful.
Asked at the forum to comment on bitcoin’s performance since the US election, Longo called it a classic case of the “bigger fool theory”.
The chair also criticised bitcoin’s environmental impact, pointing out: “The environmental impact to create that stuff … [is comparable to] the whole power of small European countries.”
Joining Longo on a panel, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock described bitcoin’s rise as simply “more buyers than sellers”.
Bullock went further, challenging its very definition: “It’s not a currency, it’s not money, it’s being used as some sort of asset class. I don’t understand it,” she said, adding, “I don’t really see a role for it certainly in the Australian economy or the payments system.”
While Australian regulators have raised doubts about cryptocurrency’s legitimacy, the US, under President Donald Trump, is taking a contrasting approach, with the creation of a working group to develop a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and explore the establishment of a national digital asset stockpile.
In an update this week, Trump revealed five digital assets he plans to include in the stockpile – including bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana and Cardano – causing their prices to surge.
In the hours after his announcement, bitcoin gained drastically, pushing its value back above US$90,000 after its recent slump.
Over recent weeks bitcoin fell below its key US$89,000 support level amid a broader market retreat, with fears of a global economic slowdown, geopolitical tensions and a significant wave of bitcoin option expirations driving down prices.
