Australia toughens treatment cryptocurrency

Australia will be one of the first countries where cryptocurrency fall under the jurisdiction of the anti-terrorism legislation.
Anonymity kriptovalyutnyh payments makes them very attractive for the financing of terrorist organizations, said representatives of the Financial Intelligence Australia, organized the summit on the fight against terrorism, which will be held this week on. Bali, Indonesia.
As transfers edition of «The Sydney Morning Herald», the summit will take part the Minister of Justice of Australia, Michael Keenan, who will inform the participants about the measures taken by the government in the fight against the legalization of illegal incomes and financing of terrorism. He also made several recommendations on cryptocurrency regulation.
"This report contains a number of recommendations to strengthen the current legislation for its compliance with the new challenges and threats. The government is extremely interested in the development of this industry, and believes that the regulatory acts in the sphere of combating legalization of illegal proceeds and terrorist financing will further help in this ", - said Keenan.
Australian transaction reporting and analytical center (AUSTRAC) in its report "Financing of terrorism in Australia 2014" said that electronic and online payments is a risky method attractive to terrorist organizations, and that the volume of such funding has increased along with the growing popularity of such methods.
There is a high risk of using online payment systems and digital currencies terrorist groups involved in recruiting and working with online media.
Representative AUSTRAC Brad Brown said that there are already cases of illegal use of Bitcoins for such purposes. So, he called the marketplace Silk Road, where they sold drugs and kriptovalyutnuyu exchange Mt Gox, lost millions of dollars as a result of hacking.
Today, in most countries there are no laws that would regulate the treatment cryptocurrency. The decision was taken only in Canada in 2014, recognizes that cryptocurrency should be used in accordance with the regulations on the financing of terrorism and laundering of illicit proceeds.
Recall that this is not the first attempt to regulate cryptocurrency in Australia. So in 2014 the local tax office Bitcoin classified as "intangible benefits" that in the country are taxed goods and services, analogue of VAT. This led to the departure of several Australian start-ups to more favorable markets.