Australian Senator Jane Hume opines DeFi is ‘not going away any time soon’
Australian Senator Jane Hume recently stated that decentralized finance (DeFi) “presents huge opportunities” for the country in having the potentials of cementing a place in economic progress through digital innovation.
Speaking at the Australian Financial Review Super & Wealth Summit, Senator Hume remarked that with DeFi, the country could become a “front-runner for innovation and economic progress.”
Jane Hume, who is the Minister for Women’s Economic Security of Australia, was speaking at the November 22 event in Sydney, the conference being mainly about super and government retirement funds. Representative of the Liberal Party and the state of Victoria, Hume said both the funds were “notoriously slow and steady investments” but her comments on DeFi are more notable in this regard.
Senator Hume further called for industries and the Australian government to acknowledge that DeFi is “not a fad,” so it should be “tread cautiously, but not fearfully.” She highlighted that the technology is “not going away any time soon.”
Hume then stressed that if the last 20 or 30 years have taught the world anything, it’s that all kinds of innovation “begins as disruption and ends as a household name.”
Hume then went on to reference the fast-paced nature of the industry, stating that decentralized finance as underpinned by blockchain technology would bring about “incredible opportunities” and that Australia “mustn’t be left behind by fear of the unknown.”
While speaking about the policy, Hume also noted that Australia’s economic future would be majorly defined by “innovation” and “uptake of technology” as the country is in the process of recovery from the financial toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She then commended industry players to embrace innovation and developments in the DeFi space, particularly around the blockchain technology, making a specific mention and reference to Commonwealth Bank.
On November 3. the bank had announced that it would allow the 6.5 million users on its banking app to trade ten crypto assets, including Ether, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. This would make CBA the first Australian bank and “one of just a handful of banks worldwide to offer customers this sort of access,” she outlined.
According to Finder’s Crypto Survey comprising 27,400 respondents, 17 per cent of Australians currently invest in cryptocurrency. However, the country’s uptake of crypto has been witnessing an increasing pressure from lawmakers and regulatory bodies.
Last month, the Australian Senate Committee of pro-crypto NSW Senator Andrew Bragg had published a “crypto report,” that pronounced 12 recommendations in total that are intended at tackling key issues pertinent to the cryptocurrency sector. Bragg had said that the recommendations would enable Australia in competing with leading jurisdictions for the blockchain and crypto industries, including the United States, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
