Australia Senate Committee Endorses Digital Assets Framework Bill, March 2026

Australia's Senate Economics Legislation Committee tabled its report on the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets—Financial Services) Bill 2025 on March 16, 2026, recommending that the Senate pass the Bill without amendment. The Bill has passed the House of Representatives and now awaits a Senate vote to complete its passage through the Australian Parliament. The Committee's endorsement moves Australia one step closer to a dedicated statutory licensing regime for digital asset businesses operating under the Corporations Act 2001.

The Bill amends the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to insert a new category of regulated financial product called a "digital asset facility." Schedule 1 of the Bill requires any person who operates a digital asset facility—defined to include platforms that hold, transfer, or exchange digital assets on behalf of others—to hold an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence with a digital asset facility authorisation. The Bill also amends the definition of "financial product" in section 763A of the Corporations Act to encompass digital asset facilities, bringing them within the existing financial services licensing, conduct, and disclosure regime administered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Digital asset exchanges, custodians, and wallet service providers that hold digital assets for Australian retail or wholesale clients will need to obtain or vary an AFS licence to add the digital asset facility authorisation before the Bill's operative date. ASIC will apply its standard licence assessment criteria under section 913B of the Corporations Act, including requirements relating to competence, financial resources, dispute resolution membership, and compliance arrangements. Issuers of digital assets that are not otherwise a financial product remain outside the Bill's direct scope, but secondary trading platforms handling those assets on behalf of users will fall within the new licensing obligation once the Bill receives Royal Assent and the relevant provisions commence.

The Committee report notes that the Senate has not yet scheduled a debate or vote on the Bill, and the Bill's commencement provisions give the Minister the power to set the operative date by proclamation. Transitional provisions in the Bill allow existing operators to continue activities for a specified period after commencement while applying for the new authorisation. The precise transitional window will be confirmed once the Bill passes the Senate and the commencement proclamation is made.

Source: Senate Economics Legislation Committee, Report on the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets—Financial Services) Bill 2025, tabled March 16, 2026. Australian Parliament House, https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/DigitalAssets2025. Confirmed March 20, 2026.

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