Australian Finance Minister Jane Hume has said cryptocurrency is “not a passing hype” and the government should not fear the industry.
Support from Australia
The Australian Treasury Secretary says the government should not fear decentralized finance (DeFi), according to The Guardian.
“As an industry and as a government, we need to recognize that crypto is not a fad. We must be careful, but not anxious” Hume said at an Australian Financial Review summit today. She also added that the crypto industry is “not going away anytime soon”.
“Don’t be the person who thought the iPhone would never take off because people preferred to have their music and phone on separate devices. Don’t be the person in 1995 who said the internet was just a place for geeks and criminals and would never go mainstream.”
Hume’s comments come six months after she first publicly spoke out in favor of the crypto industry.
Past statements
In May of this year, Hume said the government would not hinder Australians from entering the crypto market.
“If you want to invest in Dogecoin, I will not stand in your way. Personal opportunity and personal responsibility are two sides of the same coin.” she said at the time. She also said that crypto is an asset class whose importance will increase.
Hume’s words are far removed from the position of other governments and regulators around the world. Most have collectively warned about the risks inherent in the crypto industry.
One such example is the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has routinely issued warnings about the crypto industry this year.
In January, the FCA banned crypto derivatives for retail investors. It claimed crypto products were “bad” for retail customers due to a number of factors, including financial crime, price volatility, a lack of customer understanding and a lack of reliable product valuations.
The FCA has also sharply criticized Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the industry. It called the platform “unable to be regulated” after failing to provide basic information to the regulator.
In the United States, crypto is also not always well received by regulators.
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has previously said that crypto is in dire need of consumer protection laws. He also said the DeFi industry could be rife with unregistered securities.