By Michelle Huckel, Policy Manager, SIAA
ASIC has commenced consultation on guidance and standards to implement new laws for digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms commencing on 8 April 2027.
ASIC’s Consultation Paper 392 Digital asset law reform implementation: Proposed standards and guidance outlines its proposed approach to standards and regulatory guidance about complying with the new digital asset framework introduced by the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026. That act, passed by Parliament on 1 April 2026, amended the Corporations Act to introduces a new regulatory framework for:
- digital asset platforms, which involve the holding of digital tokens on behalf of clients and associated platform services, and
- tokenised custody platforms, which are arrangements that record underlying assets held for clients as digital tokens.
Those currently operating a platform that will be considered a digital asset platform or tokenised custody platform on 8 April 2027, must apply for an Australian financial services licence or variation by 7 October 2027.
What is a digital asset platform?
Digital asset platforms are a facility under which an operator possesses one or more digital tokens on behalf of another person. The digital tokens are possessed for and on behalf of a client (or their nominee) and the operator may also provide services such as trading, settlement and staking.
What is a tokenised custody platform?
Tokenised custody platforms are a facility under which an operator holds underlying assets on behalf of another person and, for each underlying asset, creates a digital token representing rights to that underlying asset (i.e. as a representation of underlying assets held in custody, such as gold or another digital token).
What does the consultation include?
The consultation package includes draft guidance on how to comply with the new laws, proposed standards on asset-holding activities, trading and settlement activities, and proposed financial requirements for licensees.
ASIC’s approach to digital asset regulation is based on the principle of “same activity, same risk, same regulatory outcome” to align Australia with the approach of comparable overseas jurisdictions. It hopes that bringing digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms into the financial services regulatory framework means consumers can have greater confidence when trading digital assets.
ASIC’s proposed guidance explains how the digital assets framework applies to:
- operators of Digital Assets Platforms and Tokenised Custody Platforms and others providing financial services for these new products, and
- existing Australian financial services licensees, market participants, payments providers and other businesses that use or deal with digital assets.
ASIC’s proposed guidance outlines that firms will need to:
- apply for (or vary) an Australian financial services licence,
- provide customer disclosure documents and platform rules, and
- comply with asset-holding standards, transactional and settlement standards, and net tangible asset requirements, where relevant.
ASIC’s consultation is open until 5pm AEDT 27 November 2026.
ASX is currently considering the role of digital assets and tokenisation in markets and SIAA is a member of its tokenisation working group.
SIAA will be maintaining a watching brief on ASIC’s consultation on digital assets.
The link to the consultation is here.
