Bitcoin booms as crypto crackdown looms | The Business | ABC News

Crypto's moment has arrived - that's if you're one of the true believers. Thousands of devotees congregated in Sydney for what organisers described as Australia's largest cryptocurrency event, the Aus Crypto Convention. Bitcoin has hit all-time highs in the wake of the re-election of Donald Trump, who during his presidential campaign promised to be a "crypto president". With tech billionaire and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk in Trump's administration, the bitcoin price is closing in on $US100,000. About 5.6 million Australians own or have expressed interest in buying crypto, including Ethereum and Dogecoin, according to the Digital Economy Council of Australia. Industry figures say cryptocurrency investors and businesses have been left in the lurch by a lack of regulation. The Australian Securities Investment Commission says there are 400 registered crypto exchanges in Australia but only 40 businesses involved in crypto have a license. ASIC acknowledges that without specific crypto regulation, it is using the courts to test breaches of the Corporations Act. It has taken several high-profile enforcement actions against crypto businesses. Fred Schebesta's company Finder has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars battling ASIC in the courts. In August, the federal court found crypto exchange Kraken had fallen foul of the law when offering a margin trading product. Kraken's managing director for its Australian operations, Jonathon Miller, says there needs to be some work on crypto regulation - and Australia is lagging. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has slammed the federal government for failing to protect investors after the collapse of local crypto exchanges and FTX in the US. A spokesperson for Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones has previously questioned why the Coalition did not introduce crypto laws when it was last in power, and in a statement said the Albanese government was on track to regulate cryptocurrencies and would release draft legislation in "due course". In the US, a lobby group reportedly raised more than $US200 million ($306 million) for pro-crypto candidates. Now, the same group has launched in Australia, spearheaded by exchange platform Coinbase, with plans to push for crypto-friendly regulation in the lead-up to the next federal election.
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