The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has raised the transaction-value threshold for low-volume financial markets to $2.5 million from $1.5 million, allowing qualifying markets to continue operating without an Australian market licence. The new threshold is part of ASIC Corporations (Low Volume Financial Markets) Instrument 2026/756, which replaces the 2016 instrument and will remain in force until October 1, 2031.
ASIC said the increase shows factors including inflation, as the threshold had remained unchanged since 2016. The exemption still requires a market to have no more than 100 completed transactions and total transaction value of no more than $2.5 million during the relevant 12-month period. ASIC said the thresholds are intended to reduce compliance costs for small market operators while managing regulatory risk.
ASIC Increases Low Volume Financial Market Transaction Threshold By $1 Million dlvr.it/TVjGGd
— Mondo Visione (@ExchangeNews) September 30, 2026
What the higher threshold could mean for crypto platforms
ASIC’s decision has a potential connection to crypto because Australia’s financial-market rules can apply to digital-asset platforms when the assets being traded qualify as financial products. ASIC says that a platform only needs one financial product being traded for it to potentially be considered a financial market. Operators therefore need an Australian market licence unless an exemption applies.
For a small crypto or tokenized-asset platform, the new threshold does not mean it is automatically exempt from licensing. It gives smaller markets a chance to qualify under the existing low-volume rules. The limits are no more than 100 transactions and $2.5 million in total transaction value over 12 months. For example, a platform with 101 transactions would exceed the limit even if those trades were worth less than $2.5 million. Similarly, 50 transactions worth $3 million would also fall outside the exemption.
That distinction matters for smaller crypto businesses experimenting with tokenized securities or other digital financial products. A platform could have relatively few users but still breach the threshold if those users make high-value trades. The relief therefore operates more like a small-market gate than a general exemption for startups. It also leaves larger crypto venues subject to the full licensing framework.
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Other markets are using different thresholds for smaller crypto activity
Australia’s approach can be compared with the European Union, where regulators have built explicit size-based exemptions into the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). For certain crypto-assets other than asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens, an issuer does not have to meet some of MiCA’s white-paper requirements if the public offer is made to fewer than 150 people per EU member state, or if the total consideration does not exceed €1 million over 12 months.
Australia uses transaction count plus transaction value for its low-volume financial-market relief, while MiCA can look at the number of people targeted and the value of the crypto-asset offering. Those are not interchangeable rules, but both create a lower-compliance route for activity that remains below specified limits.
Singapore is taking another approach. Rather than creating a low-volume exemption, the Monetary Authority of Singapore is developing a specific regulatory framework for stablecoins. Its September 2026 consultation proposes requirements covering capital, redemption at par, disclosure and value stability, while also allowing recognition of certain foreign-issued stablecoins under comparable regulatory frameworks. MAS said the framework is intended partly to support stablecoins as settlement assets for tokenised financial markets.
Hong Kong provides another real-world example. Its Securities and Futures Commission reported 12 licensed virtual-asset trading platforms as of March 2026, compared with none in March 2024. It has also been expanding what licensed platforms can offer. In November 2025, the SFC removed the previous 12-month track-record requirement for certain virtual assets offered to professional investors, while retaining it for other virtual assets offered to retail investors.
The comparison suggests that regulators are not following one single model. Meanwhile, Australia’s corporate regulator issued a strong warning to investors over cryptocurrency futures products offered by Bitget, a digital asset trading platform operated by BTG Technology Holdings Limited.
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