On 5 September 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a media release announcing that the High Court had granted it special leave to appeal a Full Federal Court decision that a digital asset service provider did not need a financial services licence to offer a fixed-yield digital asset-related product.
The definition of financial product has been drafted in a broad and technology-neutral way and ASIC believes that it is in the public interest to clarify the position. As such ASIC’s appeal seeks the High Court’s ruling on what falls within the definition of a financial product, as well as clarifying when interest-earning products and products involving the conversion of assets from one form into another are regulated.
The appeal will be heard on a date to be set by the High Court.