Australia may soon institute new rules for crypto exchanges operating in the country, mandating that they acquire financial services licenses by November, according to the Australian Financial Review.

“[The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s] message is that a significant number of crypto asset firms in the Australian market are likely to need a license under the current law,” said Alan Kirkland, a commissioner at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, otherwise known as ASIC, during a crypto summit in Sydney. “This is because we think many widely-traded crypto assets are a financial product.”

“ASIC believes that licensing and its subsequent protections will mitigate risk while bolstering consumer confidence and market integrity — two elements that are crucial in encouraging innovation in the financial system,” Kirkland added.

Cryptocurrency adoption is widespread in Australia, with almost a third of Australian youth investing in crypto. Last year, the country’s largest bank – Commonwealth Bank – announced restrictions on the amount of funds transferred to crypto exchanges, saying it would hold some payments sent to exchanges, and in some cases even reject some payments to these crypto exchanges to guarantee the safety of customers. “[W]e’re seeing a growing number of customers losing funds to cryptocurrency scams,” the bank said.

Earlier this year, the Australian Federal Police reported that citizens lost 180 million Australian dollars ($122 million) to crypto scams.

Despite the precipitous growth of crypto scams in the country, crypto exchanges have called for greater regulations at home and globally. “The evidence coming out of Australia strongly supports the idea that the international crypto economy will exponentially grow when it’s regulated. We think a regulated industry is almost certainly how we hit one billion global crypto owners,” Jason Titman, CEO of Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, told Cointelegraph earlier this year.