The Government has introduced the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 into the House of Representatives to ensure that digital asset providers meet the same standards of consumer protection that apply across the financial system. Background.

The Bill introduces amendments to the Corporations Act which:

• Define the core concepts around digital tokens, digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms;
• Apply the financial services law by adding these platforms, where the platform is not a Managed Investment Scheme (MIS), to the definition of a financial product in the Corporations Act and the ASIC Act;
• Provide targeted exemptions for certain digital token arrangements.

An exemption will apply to issuers of digital asset platforms from holding an AFS licence if the total market value of transactions across platforms does not exceed $10 million across a rolling 12-month period.

The Bill commences 12 months after the day after Royal Assent.

The term ‘digital asset’ is a term that has been used to describe the bundle of rights that accrue to the holder of a particular digital token. Like physical tokens, digital tokens can be used to create two broad categories of assets:

• assets that are commodity-like or collectable (e.g. bitcoin or non fungible trading cards). Here, there is no counterparty issuer with obligations to token holders. The ‘asset’ consists solely of the property
  rights associated with the digital token itself.
• assets that are bearer-like (e.g. stablecoins or tokenised securities). Here, an issuing counterparty has obligations to token holders under an external arrangement (i.e., the token is used to identify the ‘holder’ of the relevant rights). The external arrangement may arise under contract, equity or statute. The ‘asset’ is all the rights associated with possessing the token (including the rights associated with the digital token itself).

In Australia, responsibility for the regulation of digital assets is shared across multiple regulators. For example:

• ASIC regulates activities involving financial products and services, including:
  * digital assets that are financial products (e.g. securities, derivatives or interests in MIS); and
  * financial services that involve digital assets (e.g. operating a MIS that holds digital assets and issuing derivatives that reference digital assets).
• ACCC regulates consumer sales of non-financial products and services, which may include digital assets in certain circumstances.
• AUSTRAC regulates digital asset service providers under Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework.
• APRA prudentially regulates authorised deposit-taking institutions, insurance businesses, or superannuation funds, which may include oversight of digital asset holdings in certain circumstances.
• Intellectual Property Australia has a role in overseeing intellectual property licences or assignments, which could include tokenised copyright licences, patents or trademarks.
• The Australian Communications and Media Authority regulates certain interactive gambling services, which may include oversight of digital assets that represent bets, lottery entries or wagering products.

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Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
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About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.