Crypto Adoption in Australia: The Australian government’s work to prevent tax evasion is growing. Efforts seem to be moving towards a gradual decline in cash availability, which represents an essential opportunity of growth for cryptos and alternative means of payment.
As part of an initiative to prevent undeclared business from being conducted in the country, the Australian government has issued some economic measures to restrict specific conditions that could be harmful to the people. In an official statement entitled “Tackling illegal behavior in the Black Economy” Australia’s Ministry of Revenue and Financial Services mentioned that the government is prepared to confront the black market with “decisive actions”.
One of these strategies has been the creation of a Black Economy Taskforce to combat smuggling with more powerful mETHods than those currently used in traditional tax enforcement:
“The Black Economy Taskforce was established to develop an innovative, forward-looking, multi-pronged policy response to combat the black economy in Australia, recognising that these issues cannot be tackled by traditional tax enforcement measures alone.
The Taskforce’s Final Report has now been released along with the Government’s response which includes the announcement of several new measures in the 2018-19 Budget.”
Similarly, along with this task force, one of the measures that complicate the population the most has been the restrictions on cash purchases in amounts exceeding approximately $7,000 USD.
Will An Economy-Wide Cash Payment Limit Increase Crypto Adoption in Australia?
The Government will introduce an economy-wide cash payment limit of $10,000 AUS [around $7,500 USD], applying to payments made to businesses for goods and services from 1 July 2019.
For the Australian government, the ban on cash purchases seeks to force users to declare their buys and thereby increase tax collection by approximately $3 billion according to Coingape estimates
Another reason given by the government to support such a measure is the fact that it will help prevent money laundering and other illegal activities based on cash transactions:
“This cash payment limit will capture high-value transactions and help stamp out opportunities for criminals to launder the proceeds of crime into goods and services, or for businesses to hide transactions to reduce their tax liabilities.”
To make sure that people will abide the law, the task of monitoring and control will be entrusted to the above-mentioned task force. To provide successful performance, the investment budget for this task will have its mETHodology and consultation process.
However, the lack of cash or the restriction of its use may represent a golden opportunity for those seeking alternative mechanisms such as cryptos. Crypto adoption in Australia may boom in the coming months. An anonymous, decentralized payment mechanism would provide the benefits of cash payments without the dangers associated with the actual possession of cash at the time of doing business.