The history of Bitcoin in Australia

Despite many of the continent’s relaxed laws, Australia has experienced a rather difficult relationship with the regulation of Bitcoin over the years. Until recently, that is.

Back in 2013, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) spoke about the legality of cryptocurrencies in an interview, claiming that “there would be nothing to stop people in this country deciding to transact in some other currency in a shop if they wanted to. There’s no law against that, so we do have competing currencies.”

However, in 2014, the Australian government’s tax office (ATO) set in place caustic double taxation on existing cryptocurrencies, resulting in many popular miners and operating platforms pulling out and leaving the country.

But by 2017, the authorities had introduced new legislation that made the crushing double taxation rules obsolete, creating a return to form for tech-savvy traders. In the resulting years, virtual currencies, and specifically Bitcoin, have witnessed a gradual increase in popularity. The following year, digital currency exchanges were made to register with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre in compliance with new anti-money laundering legislation.

The current status of Bitcoin in Australia

Today, Australia is a mostly Bitcoin-friendly country with many local shops accepting Bitcoin as payment for goods and services––specifically in areas like Sydney and Melbourne, which remains the most Bitcoin-friendly city with many brick-and-mortar stores offering it as a payment option. In fact, there are a few regions in the country with businesses that claim a strong track record of Bitcoin adoption, even posting ‘we accept bitcoin’ signs on doorways or at cash registers.

Some of the most popular exchanges for buying Bitcoin in Australia include Coinspot (billed as the leading bitcoin exchange in the country), Coinbase (billed as the most trusted), and CoinJar.