Australian Firm Aiming for $15 Mln ICO for Crypto Exchange Addresses Regulatory Scrutiny

Byte Power Group (BPG), the Australian company aiming to launch the country’s first cryptocurrency exchange using an ICO, responded to regulatory pressure with fresh information about its plans Wednesday, September 5.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), BPG addressed concerns the regulator raised last month as details of the fundraising became public.

BPG has since begun selling its BPX tokens, aiming to raise $15 million to build the exchange, whereupon users will be able to use the tokens to pay fees in a manner similar to that of fellow exchange Binance.

On August 1, the ASX sent correspondence to executives with queries on various aspects of its future operations, including whether or not BPX tokens constituted securities under Australian law.

Based on “legal advice” it obtained, BPG replied Wednesday that the tokens “are not financial products.” In a statement addressing a total of 17 queries, the company writes,

“The offer of BPX tokens does not constitute an offer to issue one or more securities […] derivatives or any other kind of financial product.”

The responses also included acknowledgment of BPG’s requirement to register as a reporting authority with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), as well as adopt an anti-money laundering (AML) framework and adhere to know-your-customer (KYC) statutes.

Australia has traditionally been a problematic jurisdiction for cryptocurrency businesses due to a turbulent regulatory landscape, which many consider unfairly biased against their interests in the terms of taxation.

Nonetheless, this year has seen various international exchange operators invest in the domestic market, including China’s Huobi in July.