Australia Crypto Exchange Licence: ASIC's Digital Asset Platform Rules and the 7 October 2027 Deadline

Australia will license crypto exchanges and custody platforms under its financial services law from 8 April 2027. The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 creates two new financial products, "digital asset platforms" and "tokenised custody platforms". An operator of either will need an Australian financial services (AFS) licence from ASIC unless an exemption applies. Firms that apply by 7 October 2027 can keep operating while ASIC decides. This guide explains who is covered, the exemptions written into the Act, and what happens to a firm that does not apply.

When the Law Starts: 8 April 2027

The Act received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026. Section 2 says the whole Act commences on "the day after the end of the period of 12 months beginning on the day this Act receives the Royal Assent", and the commencement table gives that day as 8 April 2027.

ASIC's roadmap page and its regulatory developments timetable say 9 April 2027. ASIC's later consultation paper, CP 392 (15 October 2026), uses 8 April 2027. Where they differ, the Act's own words decide, and they point to 8 April.

Who Needs a Licence

The Act inserts two definitions into the Corporations Act:

• A digital asset platform (DAP) is a facility under which an operator holds ("possesses") digital tokens for or on behalf of clients. For example, the operator may hold them as trustee or bailee, or be obliged to deal with them on the client's instructions (s 761GC).
• A tokenised custody platform (TCP) is a facility under which an operator holds an asset other than money, creates a single digital token for it, and that token gives a right to redeem the asset or direct its delivery (s 761GD).

Both become financial products unless the platform is a managed investment scheme (s 764A(1)(la), (lb)). Anything an agent does for the operator counts as done by the operator (s 761GE).

ASIC's draft Regulatory Guide 000 says the operator must hold an AFS licence with an authorisation to issue that type of platform unless an exemption applies. A firm cannot operate a platform as a corporate authorised representative of someone else's licence. Advisers and firms that arrange or deal in DAPs or TCPs may need licences too. Services relating to these platforms count as financial services only when a constitutionally-covered corporation provides them (s 766K). Section 766M makes it a civil penalty for a person that is not such a corporation to provide them using postal, telephone or similar services.

Exemptions Written Into the Act

The Act adds two licensing exemptions to s 911A(2):

Low-value DAP (para (ja)). No licence is needed to issue a DAP if all of the following apply:

• no financial products are held on any of the group's platforms;
• transactions across those platforms total no more than $10 million in the last 12 months;
• whenever a token is added for a client, that client's total holdings, measured at their value when each was added, are no more than $5,000;
• the operator has lodged a notice with ASIC in the prescribed form.

Regulations may raise the amounts (s 911A(4B)). The platform is still a DAP, and other rules may still apply.

Limited advice and arranging (para (jb)). This covers a business that only tells people a platform exists or arranges for them to use one, where this is not a significant part of the business.

ASIC's draft guide lists further exemptions, for example for sub-custodians and some overseas providers. Those depend on regulations the Government has not yet made.

The Transition Window and What Happens If You Don't Apply

The transitional provisions (new Part 10.83 of the Corporations Act) set a six-month transition period starting on commencement. That runs from 8 April 2027 to 7 October 2027.

• During that period, the new rules do not apply to a firm providing platform services without the relevant AFS licence authorisation (s 1732(1)).
• If the firm applies for a licence or a variation within the period, the rules stay off until the day after ASIC decides the application (s 1732(3)). In other words, it can keep operating while ASIC assesses it.
• If the firm does not apply, the Act's note says the rules "start to apply immediately after the transition period". From 8 October 2027, a firm then needs the right authorisation or an exemption to carry on that business (CP 392, para 39).

ASIC describes this as a deadline for firms "currently operating" a DAP or TCP. It is also considering publishing a list of firms that apply by 7 October 2027 (CP 392, proposal A4).

Until then, the existing law still applies. ASIC said firms' access to its INFO 225 class no-action position would expire in June 2026, and that they must comply with existing licensing requirements during the reform.

CP 392: The Rules Still Being Written

On 15 October 2026, ASIC released CP 392. It contains:

• a draft regulatory guide for DAPs and TCPs;
• draft asset-holding standards;
• draft transactional and settlement standards;
• draft financial requirements.

Comments are due by 27 November 2026. ASIC plans to publish the final instruments and guidance in March 2027. It notes that the draft instruments "may change considerably".