JUST IN: ASIC's Chief Financial Technology Officer.

Cryptocurrencies are finance with a new structure.
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are technologies that perform the same functions as existing financial infrastructure, so they should not be treated as separate asset classes when drafting legislation, according to the head of financial technology at Australia's securities regulator.
In a paper presented Wednesday at the Melbourne Money and Finance Conference, Rhys Bollen, head of financial technology at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), stated that cryptocurrencies should be regulated based on their “economic substance, not their technological form.”