Australia’s financial regulatory watchdog  Australian Securities and Investments (ASIC) has recently updated its guidelines pertaining to ICO and cryptocurrencies stressing that the democratic freedom of adopting new financial technologies will not come at the cost of basic consumer protection.

While speaking at an Fintech event in Sydney, attended by several blockchain companies, Australian Securities and Investments (ASIC) Commissioner John Price talked about the role of regulators and their association with cryptocurrencies and ICO space.

In his speech, Price said:

“The development of innovative technologies like blockchain and ICOs has the potential to revolutionize how our society engages with financial products and services, but with revolution comes risk… Scams are corrosive when it comes to building any form of trust, and we all have a role to play in making sure they don’t happen.”

He also said that the regulatory agency is “determined to see Australia’s fintech and regtech flourish in the right regulatory environment” which also applies to ICOs and cryptocurrencies and insisted that “ASIC must be focused on both protecting Australian consumers and facilitating innovation across the financial services industry.”

Last year in September 2017, regulatory agency ASIC had released an information sheet with specific guidelines to businesses regarding injection of funds or fundraising through ICO. The sheets says that based on the type of the token offering, ICO can be classified as an offer of a derivative, a managed investment scheme, a share offering or a non-cash payment facility.

Moreover, the sheet also mentions that the circumstances in which ICO are operated will be determining its legality thereby warning businesses to not indulge in any sort of malicious practices.

The ASIC commissioner in his recent speech reiterated this stand and said that eliminating any sort of deceptive practices is “going to be a key focus for us going forward.”