Australia's Treasury and Reserve Bank Held Consultations With Coinbase, Others

Australia's central bank and Treasury have held private meetings with international crypto industry executives including Coinbase's vice president of international policy, Tom Duff Gordon, on the future of digital assets and regulation in the nation.

Gordon was among those who made a submission about the Treasury's token mapping consultation paper, released last month, after flying in from London. Token mapping is the process of identifying the key activities and functions of products in the crypto ecosystem and mapping them against existing regulatory frameworks.

“The Australian Treasury’s token mapping exercise is one of the most detailed and thoughtful papers we have seen on the topic, and it sets a strong foundation for their forthcoming draft rules for crypto exchanges and custodians, which we are keen to see later this year," Gordon told CoinDesk in an email. "It’s great the industry is able to engage in this open and transparent regulatory rule-making process."

The Australian Treasury said it "maintains stakeholder relationships across all policy areas and meetings are a normal part of consultation."

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) confirmed a meeting was held after a request from Coinbase.

"Some members of staff from the Payments Policy and Financial Stability departments met with Coinbase this week, as part of the Bank’s ongoing liaison with industry," an RBA spokesperson said via email.

Gordon, along with Coinbase Asia Pacific managing director John O’Loghlen, held several meetings with government and policy stakeholders in Australia, said The Australian, which reported the consultation earlier.

“From a central bank perspective, they’re interested in financial stability and the links between a fiat traditional financial system and the crypto system,” Gordon told The Australian. “The Treasury in Australia is more interested and involved in setting the framework, and we believe the RBA will increasingly get more involved as we move forward.”

The Coinbase submission was focused on disclosure to ensure "that when consumers look at financial information, they’re not being misled and that people have the information that they need to make informed decisions," Gordon said.

Read More: Australia’s Central Bank Taps Mastercard and Others to Test CBDC Use Cases

UPDATE (March 15, 10:53 UTC): Changes sourcing to, and adds comment from, Coinbase.

UPDATE (March 16, 05:42 UTC): Adds comment from RBA.

UPDATE (March 16, 05:57 UTC): Adds comment from Australia's Treasury.