Three key areas to watch in Australia’s crypto market in 2026

Momentum for Australia’s growth as a global leader in cryptocurrency has accelerated in recent years, with all signs pointing to 2026 being a breakout year for the sector. Australia’s first regulation on crypto is expected to pass Federal Parliament this year and we anticipate this will be the pivotal moment for institutional investors and financial advisers to begin allocating money to crypto, which will also lead to the creation of new products and services for investors more broadly.

As these themes play out, here are three key areas to watch out for in Australia’s crypto landscape in 2026.

Regulatory clarity will be a pivotal moment for investors

After years of discussion with industry and investors, the Federal Government has now introduced legislation on the floor of Parliament for the first time from the government benches. To help make this fit-for-purpose for individual businesses operating in Australia, a comprehensive framework for two newly defined categories of digital asset services has now been introduced:

• Digital Asset Platforms (DAPs) — Where operators hold or transact digital tokens on behalf of clients

• Tokenised Custody Platforms (TCPs) — Where operators hold traditional or digital assets and issue tokens that represent a claim on those underlying assets

These platforms have historically held large volumes of client assets without clear, consistent regulatory oversight. Issues such as commingled funds and insolvency risks have exposed significant gaps that the new regime aims to close, with a focus on consumer protection in light of previous governance failures, as seen in the fallout of global exchange FTX.

Under the framework, DAP and TCP operators will be brought within the Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) environment. They will be required to comply with minimum standards for custody, transaction execution, disclosure and operational safeguards. Rather than regulating the digital assets themselves, the reforms focus squarely on the intermediaries holding them, reflecting a “same activity, same risk, same regulation” approach.

The Bill is now in Federal Parliament and the detail and timing still matter. We need to ensure that the measures will safeguard consumer investments, while also being the catalyst needed to get institutional investors and financial advisers over the line in allocating money to crypto.

Tokenised assets will make investing easier

One of the most significant structural shifts underway in global finance is the tokenisation of real world assets (RWAs). This refers to representing assets, such as private credit, bonds, commodities or money market funds, using digital tokens recorded on a blockchain.

In 2025, we saw a number of new tokenised funds brought to market, but with regulatory clarity within reach, we expect 2026 to be the year that they really make their mark on the Australian funds management industry.

By offering faster settlement, greater accessibility and fractional access to traditionally illiquid assets, more fund managers will launch tokenised funds to help meet their objectives of improving the investor experience while enhancing their investment offering.

Australia is well positioned to benefit from this global movement. The new rules around TCPs are particularly relevant, as they provide clarity for platforms that hold traditional assets while issuing digital tokens as claims on those assets.

For example, fund managers could utilise tokenised funds to make private market assets more accessible, providing fractional ownership of assets like private equity, in the same way investors can own fractions of Bitcoin. This means investors can allocate money without the typically high buy-in amounts required by many fund managers in the Australian market.

Crypto will continue becoming a mainstream way to pay

Beyond investment markets, 2026 is also shaping up as a milestone year for consumer facing crypto payments. More Australians are using digital assets in everyday transactions, particularly through card linked crypto payment services, such as CobWeb Pay.

These services allow users to convert their crypto into Australian dollars onto a traditional card, so they can pay for everyday goods and services. Merchants then receive their payment in traditional currency, creating a seamless experience without requiring merchants to adopt new payment systems.

Key drivers of this trend include:

• Real time conversion, enabling consumers to spend crypto at any tap and go terminal.

• Integration with digital wallets and mobile banking apps, making crypto balances more visible and spendable.

• Growing merchant acceptance, not because businesses choose to accept crypto, but because crypto to fiat conversion happens instantly behind the scenes.

This shift is part of a broader transition toward programmable and digital forms of money. As tokenised deposits and blockchain based settlement systems continue to develop under the new regulatory framework, crypto enabled payments will become increasingly embedded in Australia’s retail financial ecosystem.

The coming year will be pivotal for Australia’s digital asset sector. Long awaited regulation is arriving, providing clarity and confidence for both industry and investors. Tokenisation is turning traditional assets into more accessible financial products and crypto payments are becoming a normal part of how people transact in everyday life.

Together, these trends signal a shift in 2026 from experimentation to implementation in the journey of crypto moving from a standalone sector to a key part of Australia’s financial services ecosystem.

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