Australia’s ASIC Slashes Compliance Burden for Stablecoin Intermediaries in Landmark Move

ASIC just handed stablecoin players their easiest win yet—cutting red tape while regulators elsewhere keep building taller fences.

The Compliance Breakthrough

No more drowning in paperwork or jumping through endless regulatory hoops. Intermediaries can now operate with significantly less overhead—freeing up capital and operational bandwidth almost overnight.

Why This Matters

Faster settlements, lower costs, and smoother transactions—this isn’t just administrative relief; it’s a direct boost to liquidity and market efficiency. Other jurisdictions are still debating stablecoin frameworks while Australia moves.

Timing & Impact

The decision drops as global demand for dollar-pegged assets spikes—and right when traditional finance finally admits stablecoins aren’t going away. Funny how regulatory flexibility arrives once money starts moving without permission.

One less barrier between digital assets and real-world utility—while bankers still argue about wire transfers vs. blockchain finality.

ASIC set to formalize crypto rules

The exemption is a direct response to concerns raised during ASIC’s consultation on crypto regulation, which was outlined in Consultation Paper 381, which the regulator published late last year.

“Many digital assets and related products are financial products under the current law. Stakeholders have been calling for greater clarity, and in response, we are releasing our draft updated guidance,” ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said at the time.

In that paper, ASIC proposed several updates to its digital assets guidance, INFO 225, to better accommodate digital assets, and included practical examples of how existing financial product definitions could apply to stablecoins, wrapped tokens, exchange-native tokens, and even meme coins.

ASIC is currently finalizing the updates and said it WOULD publish the revised INFO 225, along with key themes and public submissions from the consultation, in the coming weeks.

Simultaneously, the regulator said it was “working closely” with the country’s Treasury department to develop a stablecoin framework.