The Australia security and investment commission (ASIC) released a document outlining a list of regulations for ICOs. The document is well thought out and showed a lot of calmness on the part of the ASIC. The document stated the following –

ASIC recognises that ICOs have the potential to make an important contribution to the options available to businesses to raise funds and to investment options available to investors. An ICO must be conducted in a manner that promotes investor trust and confidence, and complies with the relevant laws. Whether the Corporations Act applies to an ICO will depend on the type of ICO offering and what rights attach to the coins from the ICO itself, underlying coins or tokens used in the ICO

The last part of this statement should be really well received, as a one size fits all regulation can be restrictive for many ICOs.

Does this legalise ICOs in Australia?

The document described had a section dedicated to this very question. Once again, they’ve taken a very nuanced approach to this –

In Australia, the legal status of an ICO is dependent on the circumstances of the ICO, such as how the ICO is structured and operated, and the rights attached to the coin (or token) offered through the ICO. In some cases, the ICO will only be subject to the general law and the Australian consumer laws regarding the offer of services or products. In other cases, the ICO may be subject to the Corporations Act.

Our take

This is a great example of how to regulate and control ICOs. Japan is another country that has taken a case by case approach to ICOs. In many ways, this will increase investor trust towards ICOs, which should ideally result in more capital in the ICO markets. All in all – good move by the Aussies. China? 🙂

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