Regulations will raise the bar for cryptocurrency, according to Binance Australia CEO

June 20, 2022
4 min read

As the battle for regulatory clarity in Australia continues, Binance Australia’s CEO Leigh Travers believes that such a framework will show that the crypto sector “holds itself to a higher standard” than many believe.

On Tuesday, Travers addressed the state of local crypto regulatory progress and how the lack of clarity in the space limits the industry’s potential.

Australian financial authorities are calling for a pause on the services because of lack of clarity, with one official saying, “We don’t know what they’re doing.” The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has indefinitely postponed a pilot program for its crypto trading services earlier this month due to this ambiguity. Although there are no laws prohibiting CBA’s new service.

Without the rules in place to enable them, bitcoin businesses will be unable to show their worth.

From Travers’ perspective, the cryptocurrency sector is already ahead of traditional financial regulatory systems for a variety of reasons, and he thinks new rules should reflect that. He added that he believes “the crypto industry desires regulation” for a valid reason:

“People in crypto want to prove that they hold themselves to a higher standard than what people think they actually are.”

Trevers believes a reasonable regulatory environment would make the higher standard obvious to Australians. Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm, said in January that “cash is still king” when it comes to financial wrongdoing.

Another way Travers said the crypto industry sets itself apart from traditional finance is that crypto such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) do not easily fit into any existing classification for property or financial products. In Australia, cryptocurrencies are currently defined as property.

As decentralisation increases, the distinction between crypto and other assets may grow, according to Travers. “Crypto fits across a number of products,” adding that this just adds to the problem of responsibly regulating it.

Travers called Senator Andrew Bragg one of the crypto champions on the Liberal side, but with Labor now in power for the first time in nine years, there may be a gap in such a champion on the local scene.

He praised the previous majority Liberal Party for viewing the business positively, stating that it had “high-paying employment and a positive impact on the economy.” This is a very important issue: the battle to remain relevant concerns every company that processes data. A key question for many executives is whether there will be more similar adjustments in the near future, which would have an impact on their business:

“This industry is crying out for clearer regulation because it’s tough being a service provider in this environment.”

Overall, Travers appears to be a believer in cryptocurrencies. He expressed his optimism for the future of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the various roles they may play in society.

In the near term, he acknowledged that NFTs’ approach is still debatable, and that they would continue to be simple art pieces, but that long-term consequences for NFTs were broad. He believes “NFTs will have a huge impact on intellectual property.”

Despite the fact that the bitcoin market has fallen below its realised value for the first time in more than three years, Travers is still very optimistic about it. “In the short term, crypto will suffer as a lot is macro-driven,” he continued. “But it’s just a question of time before the bulls reclaim control:

“When the fear of higher interest rates is diminished, crypto will catch that wind and make more opportunities when everything has been sold off.”

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