Australian senate committee calls for national blockchain land registry

Australia

Australia’s senate committee on technology and finance wants lawmakers to establish a national blockchain land registry.

An Australian senate committee has published a report calling for a blockchain-based national land registry, better clarity over laws relating to smart contracts, and continued efforts to establish international standards for DLT.

The Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre's second interim report offers 23 recommendations spanning blockchain, consumer data, and corporate taxation.

Five recommendations deal specifically with blockchain and digital assets, including that the Council of Financial Regulators Cyber Working Group takes into account international data standards.

The committee recommended that National Cabinet consider supporting a blockchain-powered national land registry as a pilot project for Commonwealth-State cooperation on “RegTech’ to highlight ways to streamline administrative processes in both the public and private sectors.

“The committee was particularly impressed with the potential for blockchain to drive efficiencies in the area of land registries, and is recommending that this issue be further explored in the context of the National Cabinet.”

Zooming out, the committee noted there was a need for more clarity and certainty in digital asset regulations, and highlighted concerns from industry stakeholders regarding “the uncertain status” of smart contracts under Australian law.

Despite hearing about the concerns, the committee didn’t hear many solutions:

“While the committee heard extensive evidence on the need for such regulation, it heard less on concrete ideas for how this regulation should best be crafted."

Instead it recommended the Australian Government “consider how best to improve clarity with respect to the standing of smart contracts.”

The report called on the Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources, or DISER, to publish regular updates on the progress of the National Blockchain Roadmap and to to review and update the roadmap as the space evolved.

Moving forward, the committee plans to review how capital gains are applied to cryptocurrency transactions, and give deeper consideration to the regulatory implications of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins during the final phase of its inquiries.

australian government

The Australian government has made two grants of up to $3 million available to blockchain teams targeting minerals certification and excise taxation solutions.

The Australian government has opened applications for grants up to $3 million each in funding to blockchain projects targeting supply chain tracking in the minerals industry and tax tracking in the food and beverage sector.

Applications are open until April 29, with any sole trader, partnership, publicly-funded research organization, or entity incorporated in Australia that possesses an Australian Business Number eligible to apply.

The money will be used to fund two distinct pilots. The Food and Beverage Provenance pilot hopes to support a team addressing the complexities associated with spirits producers complying with excise taxation.

The Critical Minerals Pilot will support a project seeking to bolster supply chain integrity for the industry, and will also expect contributions to Australia’s National Ethical Certification Scheme to prove the provenance of locally produced minerals exported to international markets. The announcement noted:

“We expect that successful applications will be a collaboration between multiple organizations, including regulators.”

Applicants must demonstrate their projects meet the needs of the two pilots, meet the needs of regulators, reduce compliance burdens for businesses, and will support Australia’s blockchain start-up community.

“Your blockchain product will be unique, add value, and not duplicate products already in the market,” the document added.

Applicants must also demonstrate the viability and security of their platforms — including whether their blockchain has ever been the subject of a 51% attack — and how information submitted to their protocol is vetted and verified.

The Australian government has been proactive in encouraging development of its emerging DLT sector since unveiling its five-year National Blockchain Roadmap in early 2020.

In November, the government launched a trial using blockchain technology to share intergovernmental documents between local public servants and their counterparts in Singapore.

national blockchain roadmap