In late August 2019 Victorian and Western Australian police executed search warrants and arrested six people in relation to suspicious betting activity relating to esports matches.1 It is alleged that those arrested had arranged to throw matches in the popular esport Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).
Last week, the Australian Government released its exposure draft of the Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019 (Bill) for public consultation. While the draft Bill currently captures digital currencies by default, the Government intends to provide relief from application for digital currency.
ASIC has released an updated to information sheet INFO 225: Initial coin offerings and crypto-assets. While ASIC’s position on when an ICO or crypto-asset will be a financial product remains largely unchanged (you can see our previous updates on the topic here and here), ASIC’s newest update acknowledges the changing nature of crypto-assets and the increased maturity of the market.