# Australia Ends No-Action Relief for Digital-Asset Firms Sept. 30 By Riza Dagoc Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/27683 Published: 2026-10-08T01:13:47.000Z Updated: 2026-10-08T01:13:47.000Z Section: Regulation > Covered businesses have returned to existing licensing requirements as a new digital-asset framework remains scheduled for April 9, 2027. Australia’s temporary regulatory relief for certain digital-asset businesses ended Sept. 30, 2026, returning covered firms to existing licensing requirements before a new framework begins in 2027. The relief applied to businesses providing financial services involving digital-asset financial products and firms applying for or varying an Australian financial services licence, or seeking a market or clearing-and-settlement facility licence. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) initially set the relief to expire June 30 before extending it by three months. ASIC had received approximately 30 licence applications from digital-asset businesses since October 2025. ASIC’s guidance addresses stablecoins, wrapped tokens, tokenised assets, wallets, exchanges, decentralised-finance platforms and custodians. Some digital assets and related arrangements may qualify as financial products under Australia’s existing Corporations Act. ASIC said the current law’s financial-product definitions are “broad and technology neutral.” The expired relief concerned existing financial-services law and is separate from Australia’s incoming digital-asset regime. The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 is scheduled to commence April 9, 2027, bringing digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms into the financial-services licensing regime. ASIC’s 18-month implementation roadmap includes consultations on standards and guidance covering asset holding, transactions, settlement and financial requirements. The regulator has also outlined custody oversight beginning in April 2027 in [its digital-asset custody framework](). The licensing transition overlaps with Australia’s expanded anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing rules, which took effect March 31, 2026. Some obligations for newly regulated virtual-asset services were deferred until July 1, 2026. The rules include registration, customer due diligence and record-keeping requirements. Reporting of transfers involving unverified self-hosted virtual-asset wallets is scheduled to begin March 31, 2029, subject to transitional rules. ASIC said the extended relief and broader scope were intended to support an orderly path to licensing while maintaining investor protection and market integrity. The next major regulatory milestone is the scheduled start of the new framework on April 9, 2027. ## Links in this article - [its digital-asset custody framework](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/25680)