Binance Australia General Manager Ben Rose says he is “really confident” that Australian regulators will eventually make the right decisions regarding the laws governing digital assets in the country.
“There are a lot of very smart people in the government working very hard on politics. [cripto]so I’m really confident we’ll get there eventually,” Rose said in an interview with Cointelegraph at the Intersekt Fintech conference in Melbourne, Australia on Aug. 31.
Rose’s comments come against a backdrop of recent hostility towards cryptocurrencies, some of which has affected his exchange, Binance Australia, including a reported search by regulators in July and several bank blockades by the traditional financial sector.
On May 18, Binance Australia was suddenly disconnected from Australia’s banking system after payment firm Cuscal withdrew support for the exchange citing “high risk” of scams and fraud.
Since then, the exchange has been forced to end support for all Australian Dollar (AUD) trading pairs and has halted all AUD-denominated deposits and withdrawals on the exchange.
Fellow Binancians,
We regret to inform you that with immediate effect we are unable to facilitate PayID AUD deposits for Binance users due to a decision made by our third party payment service provider. We understand from our third party payment service provider that Bank…
— Binance Australia (@Binance_AUS) May 18, 2023
On the heels of this move, several major banking institutions, including Westpac and National Australia Bank (NAB), banned customers from transferring funds to “high-risk exchanges,” including Binance.
Speaking directly about the sentiment towards his exchange, Rose said that Binance is “really focused” on re-establishing its banking ties and getting back to offering fiat ramp services to its one million Australian customers.
“We’re having really positive conversations and while we don’t have specific results yet at this point, I’m really focused on making the changes we need to make.”
Despite the challenges, Rose is convinced that Australian regulators will make the right decision when it comes to regulating cryptocurrencies in the long term.
“Australia has a very important decision to make and we are waiting to see what the Treasury consultation on licensing frameworks will look like. We are really confident that will make a big difference,” Rose explained.
“I just came off a roundtable with the Treasury and ASIC, and I can tell you that there is a very good engagement between the industry and the regulators,” he added.
“I’m sure we’ll get there. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
Similarly, Christian Westerlind Wigstrom of Australian payment provider Monoova told Cointelegraph that the number of discussions between major cryptocurrency exchanges and policymakers in recent months has been “staggering.”
“Banks are right to be terrified by the number of scams, and no one [en el mundo cripto] thinks this is something we don’t have to worry about,” Wigstrom said.
Wigstrom said that rather than continue blanket blocking of funds to cryptocurrency exchanges, regulators and banking players should hold more nuanced discussions with crypto industry leaders.
“Scammers were here before cryptocurrency and they will be here after cryptocurrency. I hope we can work together on this and have a proactive discussion,” he added.
Specific legislation for cryptocurrency companies in Australia is on track to be delivered sometime in 2024, Australian Assistant Treasury Secretary Trevor Power reported to Cointelegraph on June 26.
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