Australian govt embarks on crypto stocktake ahead of sector regulation

FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrencies in this illustration taken January 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday it would do a virtual stocktake of the country's cryptocurrency holdings, the first signal from the new centre-left government that it plans to regulate the $1 trillion sector.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that his department would undertake "token mapping", or cataloging the types and uses of digital currency owned within the country, as a first step to identifying which cryptocurrency assets to regulate, and how.