TL;DR: Governments are tightening control over digital currencies: Australia released draft legislation on October 15 to implement the OECD’s CARF tax-reporting standard, Sweden’s central bank urged lawmakers on October 7 to prepare for a possible e-krona, and Russia will ban peer-to-peer digital currency trades from July 1, 2027.
Key Takeaways:
In recent weeks, several prominent examples have demonstrated the different ways the digital asset sector is persuading lawmakers and regulators around the globe to reassert their transparency, control, and sovereignty.
Australia is advancing international digital currency tax transparency, just as Sweden reconsiders a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and Russia moves to channel digital currency trading through authorized intermediaries.
Australia’s draft tax reporting framework
Australia released a draft crypto asset tax transparency legislation on October 15 that would enable the automatic exchange of digital currency tax information between countries, bringing the country into line with international standards.
The draft bill, known as “Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2026: Tax Information Reporting,” would establish a framework to implement the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a global tax transparency initiative designed to address tax evasion risks arising from the growth of digital assets, set a standard for tax reporting, and improve the exchange of information between countries on digital asset transactions to combat tax evasion and avoidance.
The Australian Treasury launched a public consultation on November 21, 2024, which ran until January 24, 2025, and gathered stakeholder feedback on the implementation of CARF. As of September 2026, Australia is one of 77 participating jurisdictions that have committed to implementing the framework on different timelines, with initial exchanges scheduled from 2027 onwards; Australia is one of 27 nations committed to first exchanges by 2028.
To meet this deadline, the draft legislation provides a framework to introduce CARF into Australian law, establish a domestic digital asset reporting regime for transactions involving Australian residents, and update the existing Common Reporting Standard.
In its October 15 announcement, the Treasury said the consultation would be open for comment until October 28.
The origins of CARF date back to April 2021, when the G20 officially mandated the OECD—a global institution that promotes policies to improve world trade and economic progress—to develop a dedicated, global tax transparency framework for crypto-assets. This precipitated international discussions and consultations throughout 2021 and early 2022, with the framework officially published by the OECD in June 2023.
Since then, it has been a case of gradually getting more countries to commit to implementing the framework. By December of last year, an OECD update on the process stated that 75 jurisdictions had committed to the rules, including “the vast majority” of digital asset centers; this number has since gone up to 77.
While Australia has committed to first exchanges by 2028, the United Kingdom and every European Union nation—bar Cyprus—have committed to 2027, and the world’s largest digital asset market, the United States, has agreed to exchanges by 2029.
Sweden, which is among the 46 nations committed to 2027 exchanges, has been in the headlines for other digital asset-related activity in recent weeks, namely revisiting the possibility of a CBDC.
Sweden revisits e-krona as digital euro progresses
On October 7, Sweden’s central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, wrote to lawmakers urging them to begin preparing legislation for a potential digital krona, citing the European Central Bank’s (ECB) progress toward a digital euro and the growing use of U.S. dollar stablecoins.
The call comes three years after an inquiry by Sweden’s government found insufficient need for a CBDC. In March 2023, after almost two years’ work, the government’s “Payments Investigation,’ led by Anna Kinberg Batra, presented over 900 pages of analysis concluding that the case for a Swedish CBDC, or “e-krona,” was not yet strong enough, and recommending the Sveriges Riksbank continue to study CBDC.
“One of the conclusions in the Payments Inquiry’s report, The State and Payments, was that there were not, at that time, sufficiently strong societal needs for the Riksbank to issue a digital krona,” said the central bank, in its letter to lawmakers earlier this month. “There have been significant developments since the report was published, which is why a new assessment may be required in the not-too-distant future.”
The developments in question were fourfold: a deteriorating geopolitical situation requires a need to strengthen the resilience of the payments system; the advanced stage of the ECB’s digital euro project; the emergence and spread of stablecoins, the majority of which are U.S. dollar-pegged; and the need for Sweden to “not lose its competitive edge.”
On the former, the bank argued that a digital krona could boost the resilience of the Swedish payments market by giving households and companies access to an additional payment method based on Swedish and European infrastructure, while offering “enhanced opportunities to make offline payments” in the event of disruptions to the electricity grid and telecommunications networks.
Such concerns and benefits are not the most commonly cited by nations seeking to explore a CBDC, but given Sweden’s proximity to Russia—particularly in the light of the latter’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2021—understandably, it may be in a state of heightened anxiety.
The other given reasons are of the more-oft-cited variety, with nations ever-keen to keep up with the Jones’ when it comes to financial and technological innovation.
Looking over its garden fence, Sweden can see the EU plowing ahead with its digital euro, the ECB having already set a date of 2029 for the potential first issuance of its CBDC and a pilot exercise and initial transactions to be launched in mid-2027—an eventual launch is still dependent on the EU Parliament getting its act together over long-delayed legislation.
“The fact that the digital euro is being rolled out also has an impact on Sweden and the Swedish payment infrastructure,” read the Sveriges Riksbank letter. “Future payment solutions, infrastructure and legislation in the EU will be based on the existence of a digital euro. In the long term, the lack of a comparable solution in Sweden, based on the Swedish currency, could affect the competitiveness of our payment system.”
As part of its case for the e-krona, the bank also touched on concerns that appear to be growing globally around the rapid rise of the stablecoin sector, which reached a total market cap of over $300 billion in December of last year and is predicted to achieve a $1.9 trillion valuation by the end of the decade. Further, around 98% of stablecoins are currently U.S. dollar denominated.
“If stablecoins pegged to foreign currencies are considered attractive as a means of payment, the use of the Swedish krona could come under pressure even within Sweden’s borders,” argued the bank.
However, it qualified this by stating that, at the moment, such a scenario does not pose a significant risk, “at least not in the near term.”
Alongside its various reasons for exploring an e-krona, the central bank was keen to emphasize that any such effort should be built on the principle that it would not be used for surveillance—a common concern among anti-CBDC campaigners, particularly in the U.S.
The Riksbank concluded its plea by urging lawmakers to get started, noting that “extensive legislative and developmental work is required to enable, if necessary, the issuance of a digital krona,” and estimating that implementation work for the bank and the market would take at least five years.
While Sweden might be longingly looking over its shoulder at the EU and worryingly looking over its other shoulder at Russia, the latter is busying itself with updating its crypto asset rules, in light of the passage of its first comprehensive digital currency market law earlier this year.
Russia to ban direct peer-to-peer crypto trades
On October 12, the Bank of Russia (BoR), the country’s central bank, updated its guidance to clarify that direct peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currency transactions between individuals will be prohibited as of July 1, 2027.
From that date, Russian residents will be required to conduct such transactions through or with authorized intermediaries, including licensed brokers and registered digital currency exchange organizations, with the regulator also confirming that individuals may not transfer digital currency from a digital account to their own non-custodial or self-custodial wallets.
The update comes just over a month after Russia’s new digital currency regulatory framework came into effect on September 1. The framework prohibits the use of digital currencies as a means of payment within Russia. It limits non-qualified investors to purchasing eligible, highly liquid cryptocurrencies through each intermediary up to an annual limit of 300,000 rubles. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT are among the assets identified as eligible for this category of investor.
Despite the seeming broadening of restrictions, the Bank of Russia’s latest move also follows the October 14 expansion of its register of organizations engaged in digital currency exchange. It now lists ten authorized digital asset exchange operators and six digital custodians, including Sberbank, Russia’s largest majority state-owned banking and financial services company, which secured the central bank’s approval to trade cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, ahead of a planned December launch.
These developments appear to suggest that Russia is moving towards a more tightly controlled, intermediary-led digital currency market, expanding opportunities for authorized financial institutions and market operators while restricting individuals’ ability to trade peer-to-peer, hold assets in self-custody within the regulated system, and invest without limits.
FAQs:
What is the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework?
The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) is a global tax transparency standard published by the OECD in June 2023. It requires digital currency providers to report user transactions, enabling automatic international exchange of tax information to combat evasion.
When does Australia start sharing digital currency tax data?
Australia has committed to its first CARF exchanges by 2028. Its draft legislation, released October 15, would write CARF into law and create a domestic reporting regime for transactions involving Australian residents.
How many countries have signed up to CARF?
As of September 2026, 77 jurisdictions have committed on varying timelines.
Is Sweden launching a digital krona (e-krona)?
Not yet. The Riksbank has only urged lawmakers to begin preparing legislation.
Why is Sweden reconsidering a CBDC?
The Riksbank cites geopolitical risk, the ECB’s progress on its digital euro, the spread of mostly U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, and the need to protect Sweden’s competitive edge in payments.
Is peer-to-peer digital currency trading banned in Russia?
From July 1, 2027, yes. Russian residents must trade through authorized intermediaries such as licensed brokers or registered exchanges, and cannot transfer crypto to their own self-custodial wallets.
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