australia

According to The Defiant, Australian bank Westpac announced that starting in December, it will set a monthly limit of 10,000 Australian dollars on payments involving cryptocurrency for its customers, and it will not provide exemptions or arrangements for higher limits.Westpac also stated that withdrawals from cryptocurrency exchanges to Westpac accounts are not affected by this adjustment and will continue to be processed as before.

According to Bloomberg, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia may profit from Anthropic's initial public offering. The bank participated in Anthropic's Series E funding round in March 2025, with its holdings valued at 153 million Australian dollars, approximately 107.5 million US dollars, as of June 30, 2025.By the end of June 2026, as Anthropic's valuation rose to 965 billion US dollars, the bank's holdings had increased in value to 1.53 billion Australian dollars, approximately ten times higher than before. Bloomberg stated that this valuation increase is considered paper gains, and whether it can ultimately be realized through the IPO depends on the listing process and related transaction arrangements.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) stated in the frequently asked questions document regarding retail payment regulation conclusions that the removal of surcharges for the designated card networks eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa starting from October 1, 2026, is in the public interest. The RBA will lift the ban on the "no surcharge" rule for the aforementioned networks from that date, with the changes based on Standard No. 3 of 2016 and the revisions to the merchant card payment costs and surcharge standards in 2026. eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa have all decided to implement the no surcharge rule from that date, generally applicable to their credit, debit, and prepaid cards, including cards issued overseas.American Express, UnionPay, and PayPal have also decided to eliminate surcharges, but are currently not formally regulated by the RBA. American Express and UnionPay will withdraw from their existing commitments with the RBA on October 1, 2026, while PayPal's no surcharge rule will take effect on October 5, 2026. This scope is limited to fees charged due to customer card payments and does not include surcharges for weekends, public holidays, booking fees, or service fees. Merchants must comply with the new card organization rules unless exceptions apply; businesses, non-profit organizations, and inter-business card payments do not receive a general exemption.The reforms will be implemented in phases. Starting from October 1, 2026, a lower interchange fee cap will apply to domestic card transactions; from October 30, designated card networks and large acquirers must publish the specified card payment fee information on their websites. From January 30, 2027, large acquirers must disclose how the decrease in interchange fees is passed on to merchant service fees; starting April 1, the interchange fee cap will apply to transactions involving overseas-issued cards acquired in Australia, and acquirers must also provide merchants with more detailed statements. The RBA stated that businesses can still factor the costs of accepting card payments into their overall pricing and may offer discounts for specific payment methods.

According to The Information, NVIDIA is in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Australian AI cloud service provider Firmus.

Cryptocurrency media Watcher Guru reported that Australia has proposed legislation requiring the reporting of cryptocurrency transactions and the initiation of international tax information sharing.According to the bill, cryptocurrency platforms will be required to report transactions involving Australian residents to tax authorities starting from July 2027.

According to Cointelegraph, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has proposed to expand the regulatory scope of Contracts for Difference (CFD) to include derivatives settled using digital assets.ASIC aims to add contracts settled through the transfer of digital assets to its definition of CFDs, rather than being limited to contracts settled in cash or offset transactions, provided that these contracts meet other identification criteria for CFDs. If the proposal is approved, Australian traders using crypto-settled CFDs will receive the same protections as cash-settled CFD traders.ASIC has made it clear that certain cryptocurrency futures and options with fixed expiration dates will remain outside this framework. CFDs allow traders to speculate on price fluctuations without holding the underlying asset. The current framework implemented in Australia since 2021 includes safeguards such as leverage limits, mandatory margin calls, and negative balance protection, which limits customer losses to the funds within their CFD trading accounts.ASIC is seeking feedback from the industry and stakeholders on the proposed expansion and revisions, with a deadline of November 9. This move comes as Australia strengthens its broader regulatory framework for digital assets.In April of this year, Australia legislated to include cryptocurrency exchanges and tokenized custody platforms within its financial services licensing framework, with the new system set to take effect on April 9, 2027. ASIC has also required crypto companies relying on temporary enforcement exemptions under existing financial services laws to apply for licenses or seek changes to existing licenses by September 30.

Australian AI data center operator Firmus, supported by NVIDIA, stated via email to CNBC that the company has withdrawn its planned large IPO due to market volatility and conditions. The board believes that the proposed issuance terms do not adequately reflect the business's strength and long-term growth prospects, and continuing with the issuance is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. The company stated it will turn to private market financing and consider other public and private market options.Reportedly, Firmus originally planned to raise $5 billion through the IPO, pricing shares at AUD 11. If successful, it would have become the second-largest IPO in Australian history, with a valuation of approximately $30.6 billion. In August 2026, the company announced the completion of $2 billion in financing, with investors including NVIDIA, Coatue Management, Blackstone, and Jane Street; the previous year, it raised over $3 billion in equity financing, with a valuation exceeding $10.5 billion. Last month, Firmus announced an agreement with Meta to provide GPU computing power for AI research, model development, and training based on NVIDIA's DSX platform in Southeast Asia.

According to The Block, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is preparing to regulate digital asset and tokenized asset custody platforms under a regulatory framework set to launch in April 2027.The regulator stated that it will issue consultation papers, guidance, and draft rules while monitoring market integrity and risk management.

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI apologized on Tuesday for its artificial intelligence model's unauthorized access to Australian government websites and promised to establish a new task force for post-incident rectification.The San Francisco-based company stated that it would fund Australia's cyber defense and assist in managing the risks posed by increasingly powerful artificial intelligence. OpenAI provided some details about the June incident in a blog post, as well as the steps it plans to take to avoid similar situations in the future and restore trust.

The head of the Australian Senate Artificial Intelligence Inquiry Committee stated on Sunday that the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic have been summoned to attend the committee's hearing. This news was announced days after it was revealed that a rogue OpenAI robot had breached the database of Australia's healthcare system. Australian Prime Minister Albanese had previously strongly condemned the "Medicare" database leak incident. According to a spokesperson leading the inquiry committee, OpenAI's Altman and Anthropic's Amodei have received written subpoenas requiring their attendance at the hearing. The hearing will be held publicly on Thursday in the capital, Canberra.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated to reporters in New York on Wednesday that an AI entity built by OpenAI breached the Australian government website Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal in June this year, accessing both public and non-public documents without authorization. The portal is managed by Services Australia and stores non-sensitive information such as Medicare expenditure data. This appears to be the first known incident of an AI entity breaching a government website.Albanese indicated that it is currently believed that no personal information was accessed, but the Australian Signals Directorate is assisting in a forensic investigation to determine which other government systems may have been affected. He mentioned that he has directly raised the matter with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and expressed disappointment that the company took about three months to inform the government, deeming the manner of notification equally unacceptable.In a statement provided to Australian ABC News, OpenAI stated that it is reviewing the model behavior deviations that occurred during training and evaluation, and identified that its model engaged in activities involving multiple Australian government websites when querying relevant answers and statistics about Australia in internal evaluations, and that the model "took actions that we did not intend."

On September 22, the Australian Treasury released the latest edition of the Intergenerational Report, which outlines a 40-year economic outlook and lists artificial intelligence as one of the five major transformations that will profoundly impact the economy in the future, but the report does not mention cryptocurrencies. The report states that AI systems have become "significantly" more autonomous, powerful, and widely applied, with some benchmark performances surpassing human levels. The other four transformations are geopolitical conflicts, an aging population, the transition to clean energy, and Australia's industrial shift towards the service sector.John O'Loghlen, National Director of Coinbase Australia, commented in an email that the report clearly indicates that Australia's prosperity over the next 40 years will largely depend on the ability to adopt new technologies and enhance productivity, but while the report focuses on artificial intelligence, it completely overlooks the financial infrastructure required for these agents. Previous Intergenerational Reports also did not address digital assets. Despite these omissions, the Reserve Bank of Australia has increased its focus on tokenized finance and upgrading financial infrastructure earlier this year, with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre estimating that digital financial innovation could bring an economic benefit of AUD 24 billion (approximately USD 17.1 billion) annually.The Treasury also released a separate report on September 3 titled Financial Innovation Strategy, which discusses the connection between AI and financial infrastructure, stating that agent systems may increase automation and machine-to-machine trading, thereby creating greater demand for real-time, interoperable, and programmable payment systems.

NVIDIA (NVDA.O) announced a collaboration with the Australian data center ecosystem to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure capabilities.

Australia's financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC has canceled, suspended, or refused to renew the registrations of 45 cryptocurrency and remittance service providers in the past year to strengthen the scrutiny of high-risk payment businesses. The involved institutions faced issues such as inactivity, insolvency, or lack of operational capability, as well as failure to report significant changes, incorrect registration information, and significant money laundering or terrorism financing risks. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas stated that businesses whose registrations have been canceled are not allowed to continue operations, and some related individuals have been referred to domestic and international law enforcement or regulatory agencies. AUSTRAC specifically mentioned BA Digital Ventures operating under the name GetCoins, whose virtual asset registration was canceled in June due to customer complaints, allegedly because the platform was exploited by organized cryptocurrency investment scams, with related actions conducted in cooperation with the national anti-fraud center. The public VASP registration list also included recent disposals of institutions such as Cryptolink, Self Custody, Jam Xchange, and Coinsec Australia. Additionally, AUSTRAC has launched an investigation into Western Union and suspended the cryptocurrency ATM network of Cryptolink.

According to Cointelegraph, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) stated that cryptocurrency companies relying on temporary regulatory exemptions must apply for an Australian financial services license or apply to amend their existing licenses by September 30.Starting from October 1, businesses that do not meet the conditions for ASIC's non-action stance and still require authorization may violate the Financial Services Act and face civil or criminal penalties, with fines of up to 10% of annual turnover. ASIC noted that since updating the relevant guidelines in October 2025, it has received over 45 applications for licenses related to digital assets.

Theo Hourmouzis, General Manager of Anthropic for Australia and New Zealand, stated at an event hosted by the National Australia Bank that the company's Australian clients lag behind their global counterparts in utilizing the programming capabilities of the Claude chatbot, but are more inclined to use it for simple tasks.Hourmouzis cited Anthropic data indicating that approximately 5.8% of Claude's usage in Australia pertains to basic tasks such as invoice processing, inventory management, and general administration, which is higher than the global level of about 4.7%. He pointed out that local usage tends to lean more towards backend and practical work.

According to Bitcoin.com, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) disclosed that in the fiscal year 2026, over 19,400 online scams were removed (a year-on-year increase of 182%), among which cryptocurrency investment scam platforms reached 3,106, an increase of about 30% compared to the previous fiscal year.ASIC pointed out that scam groups are heavily leveraging generative AI technology to build a systematic fraud ecosystem: by using deepfake videos of well-known figures such as Australian Prime Minister Albanese and financial commentators to promote fake cryptocurrency trading robots, while simultaneously creating counterfeit media websites, AI-generated comments, and fake profit dashboards to lure victims into continuously increasing their investments, with funds ultimately flowing to overseas criminal groups. Just from the impersonation of high-profile individuals alone, the related losses have exceeded 7.4 million Australian dollars.

According to Cointelegraph, Nexo Australia announced the launch of a regulated cryptocurrency collateralized credit line, allowing eligible users to borrow Australian dollars or stablecoins using digital assets as collateral, without having to sell their held crypto assets.The service typically disburses loans within 24 hours, supports flexible repayment, has no fixed term or issuance fees, and the interest rate ranges from 0.9% to 21.9%.

According to Bloomberg, Google's parent company Alphabet launched its first Australian dollar bond issuance on August 18, planning to raise approximately 5 billion Australian dollars (about 3.6 billion US dollars). The funds raised will be used to address the ongoing rise in AI infrastructure spending.This issuance is underwritten by institutions such as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), offering Australian dollar notes with four different maturities, with the longest term reaching 20 years.

According to Bloomberg, Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart's investment company Hancock Prospecting purchased 8 million shares of SpaceX in the second quarter, with a holding value of $1.37 billion as of June 30, making it its largest single holding.During the same period, the company also doubled its holdings in Trump Media & Technology Group and increased its positions in the S&P 500 ETF and several defense and energy stocks. As of the end of the second quarter, the total value of its U.S. listed securities was $5.71 billion, a 72% increase from the previous quarter.