Coinbase, the biggest publicly listed cryptocurrency trade in america, has been granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) with retail derivatives authorisation by the Australian Securities and Investments Fee (ASIC). The corporate says it’s the first crypto trade to obtain the approval immediately from the regulator, and has flagged plans to increase into fairness buying and selling and funds in Australia off the again of the licence.
The announcement, made on eight April 2026, comes only one week after Australia’s landmark Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 cleared each homes of Parliament on 1 April. That laws, which now awaits royal assent, would require all crypto exchanges and digital asset custody suppliers working above outlined thresholds to carry an AFSL — bringing them beneath the identical regulatory obligations as conventional brokers and fund managers.
Coinbase’s APAC Managing Director and Australian Nation Director, John O’Loghlen, has been a constant voice in shaping the nation’s strategy to digital asset regulation. When the invoice handed Parliament final week, O’Loghlen described it as a defining second for the trade, whereas urging the federal government to keep up momentum on broader reforms. He mentioned the laws holds digital asset exchanges to the identical working requirements as different monetary companies suppliers and provides customers better confidence to transact in crypto belongings.
O’Loghlen additionally referred to as on Canberra to prioritise the event of a stablecoin framework and broader tokenisation reforms, signalling that whereas the invoice strengthens Australia’s standing within the international digital economic system, the job is way from completed.
A regulatory journey years within the making
The AFSL licence represents the end result of a years-long engagement between Coinbase and Australian regulators. O’Loghlen, a New Zealand native primarily based in Sydney, joined Coinbase in 2022 after main the enlargement of Alibaba Group and Ant Group throughout Australia and New Zealand. He beforehand spent greater than a decade in China constructing companies within the meals supply house, following an earlier profession in funding banking with Goldman Sachs in London, New York, and Beijing.
Below his management, Coinbase Australia launched PayID for direct Australian greenback transfers, rolled out Retail Superior Buying and selling for native clients, and launched 24/7 in-app chat help — incremental steps towards constructing a completely localised product providing. The AFSL licence now opens the door to a considerably broader suite of regulated monetary companies, together with fairness buying and selling and funds.
Coinbase executives have been actively engaged with the Australian Treasury on coverage consultations relationship again to at the very least 2023, contributing to discussions round token mapping, custody greatest practices, cybersecurity, privateness, and digital identification frameworks.
The Digital Property Framework Invoice
The Companies Modification (Digital Property Framework) Invoice 2025, launched by Assistant Treasurer and Monetary Companies Minister Daniel Mulino in November 2025, creates two new regulated classes beneath the Corporations Act: Digital Asset Platforms (DAPs), which maintain crypto on behalf of customers, and Tokenised Custody Platforms (TCPs), which maintain real-world belongings and challenge corresponding digital tokens.
Operators of each should receive an AFSL from ASIC, bringing them beneath the identical core guidelines as brokers or fund managers, together with necessities to safeguard shopper belongings, present standardised disclosures, keep away from deceptive conduct, and keep dispute decision and compensation methods.
Quite than trying to manage crypto belongings themselves, the regulation targets the intermediaries that management buyer funds, aiming to scale back dangers akin to commingling, insolvency, and misuse of belongings — failures which have value buyers billions globally within the wake of collapses like FTX.
The invoice features a proportionality mechanism. Platforms with annual transaction volumes beneath AUD 10 million (roughly USD 7 million) are exempt from the strictest licensing necessities, a carve-out designed to guard smaller innovators whereas making certain the biggest operators meet rigorous compliance requirements.
Of the roughly 400 crypto platforms registered with AUSTRAC in Australia, solely a fraction at the moment maintain ASIC authorisation. The brand new regulation is anticipated to dramatically reshape that panorama over the 18-month transition interval following royal assent.
Business response
The broader Australian crypto trade has largely welcomed the regulatory readability. OKX Australia CEO Kate Cooper referred to as the invoice’s passage a pivotal second that lays the muse for institutional participation. Robert Francis, managing director of eToro Australia, mentioned bringing digital belongings beneath ASIC regulation offers the arrogance many buyers have been ready for, including that it ought to encourage establishments and older buyers to view crypto as a legit funding alternative.
Crypto.com‘s Australian common supervisor, Vakul Talwar, expressed optimism that the licensing course of would grow to be extra environment friendly for subsequent candidates now that the legislative framework is in place.
Nonetheless, not all considerations have been resolved. Advocacy group Stand With Crypto Australia famous that whereas the invoice provides customers long-overdue certainty and protections, debanking stays a critical and unresolved drawback for crypto companies throughout the nation. The persistent issue crypto companies face in securing and sustaining banking relationships has been a recurring friction level — one which Coinbase itself has raised publicly.
Authorized specialists have additionally flagged potential points with the invoice’s terminology. Companies akin to Piper Alderman have argued that broad definitions round “digital token” and “factual management” might inadvertently classify software program builders and multi-party computation suppliers as regulated custodians, a priority that will require additional refinement as ASIC develops its steering.
Australia within the international context
Australia’s strategy — integrating crypto into the present monetary companies framework quite than constructing a parallel regime — positions it alongside jurisdictions just like the European Union, which carried out its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation final 12 months, and Singapore, which has maintained a proactive licensing stance by its Monetary Authority.
Policymakers see the framework as a solution to seize a bigger share of what’s estimated to be an AUD 24 billion annual digital finance alternative. For Coinbase, which now operates in over 10 regulated markets globally together with the US, UK, Germany, France, Eire, Singapore, and Brazil, Australia represents a strategically vital market within the Asia-Pacific area.
With the AFSL licence secured and plans for fairness buying and selling and funds on the horizon, Coinbase is betting that regulatory legitimacy would be the key differentiator in a market the place shopper belief and institutional participation are nonetheless creating. Whether or not the remainder of the trade can clear the identical bar — and whether or not Canberra delivers on the excellent stablecoin and tokenisation reforms — will decide whether or not Australia actually turns into the APAC crypto hub its regulators and trade leaders are banking on.
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