Joe Longo

As chair of ASIC, directed regulatory posture that affects exchange operators, custodians and product providers interfacing with AUD‑denominated crypto instruments. Guidance notes, enforcement actions and licensing expectations clarified acceptable market conduct, disclosure obligations and custody arrangements, increasing the cost of non‑compliance and raising entry thresholds for service providers. By prioritising investor protection, market integrity and disclosure standards, influenced the willingness of banks and institutional custodians to offer AUD rails to crypto exchanges—decisions that determine fiat on‑ramp robustness and correspondent banking relationships. High‑profile enforcement or supervisory actions signalled to overseas counterparties and liquidity providers the standards required to interact with Australian markets, reducing counterparty risk premia for AUD liquidity in crypto pairs. Coordination with AUSTRAC on AML/CFT expectations and with Treasury on legislative reform allowed ASIC to shape practical compliance frameworks, thereby influencing contractual designs for custodial safekeeping, segregated client accounts and disclosure regimes. Those regulatory choices changed the operational economics for platforms settling in AUD, the reliability of AUD liquidity provision, and ultimately the degree to which institutional actors would denominate exposures or product offerings in AUD within the crypto ecosystem.