Australia’s regulatory report inspired by Ripple’s ‘technology-agnostic’ principle

America and Australia: while the former’s Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] filed a lawsuit against the blockchain company Ripple, the latter country used Ripple’s insights in a government report.

The Australian Senate’s “Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre” report looked at diverse aspects of fintech development in order to provide regulatory recommendations. What’s more, Ripple played a role in the same.

A G’day for Ripple

Ripple’s Head of Public Policy, Susan Friedman, took to Twitter to joyfully announce

that Australian policymakers had included Ripple’s “technology-agnostic” recommendation in their final report.

To be specific, the report stated,

“The regulatory framework should be technology-agnostic, and should not explicitly or otherwise endorse any particular technology.”

In total, the report credited Ripple with three principles for developing Australia’s regulatory framework for digital assets. The second was Ripple’s recommendation that regulators think about a principles-based framework instead of a prescriptive one. Finally, Ripple pushed for a risk-based approach in order to keep the ecosystem secure but also open to investment.

No playing favorites

In this context, a tech-agnostic approach means that regulators would not differentiate between services using blockchain and those using mainstream technologies. The report added,

“In practical terms, this means that financial services using digital assets as a solution should not be treated differently from financial services embedding legacy architectures, and there should be parity in the treatment of all technology…”

While the report also looked into the status of XRP in different countries, Ripple insisted that there was no single definition of “digital assets.” The company instead suggested classifying digital assets by their “particular economic function and purpose” rather than their technology.

Meanwhile, Ripple’s General Counsel, Stuart Alderoty, observed

how Australian Senators were working alongside members of the crypto-asset industry. See more

Add Australia to the list of countries that have woken up to the fact that regulatory uncertainty must be tackled with a sense of urgency, to retain and develop jobs and growth in the crypto-asset economy. Now, its Senators are working *with* industry participants. https://t.co/WRmx3b4gqT

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) October 23, 2021

Ripple overseas

As previously reported, the Australian authorities have been tracking crypto adoption in their country. Furthermore, the Australian Taxation Office claimed

that more than 600,000 taxpayers had invested in “crypto-assets” in the past few years.

Despite the ongoing SEC vs Ripple Labs lawsuit in the United States, Ripple has been having an easier time of it overseas. The UAE-based Al Ansari Exchange recently partnered with the blockchain company, in order to offer cross-border remittances. Ripple also partnered with Bhutan’s central bank for a CBDC pilot.