WILLING TON: In New Zealand, no decisions have yet been made on how to apply the law to these new technologies.
To help local regulators make those decisions, the (EHF) has written a white paper with its recommendations. The paper was co-authored by a number of blockchain experts.
The paper makes the case that New Zealand’s regulators should move quickly to create a legal framework for cryptocurrency and blockchain so that we can attract overseas entrepreneurs and investors to our shores.
Thus far, few countries have a well defined regulatory environment for cryptocurrency. Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong are often mentioned as being ahead of the curve, but they’re the exception and not the rule.
The EHF paper has some good suggestions for the Reserve Bank. It recommends the RBNZ play a leadership role for our local banks in dealing with cryptocurrency. In particular, the Reserve Bank should “give local banks clarity as to when they can confidently onboard a legitimate blockchain business”.
That’s spot on, because so far our banks have been using the excuse of anti-money laundering laws to close down the accounts of local cryptocurrency exchanges. This has prevented many Kiwi consumers from buying virtual currencies. Oddly, this hasn’t happened in Australia – even though we share many of the same banks.
Australia is also far ahead of New Zealand when it comes to taxing cryptocurrency. The EHF report notes that the Australia Tax Office “has issued three iterations of guidance on taxation of Bitcoin”. Our IRD has yet to issue anything.
