On 24 July 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a media release stating that the Full Court of the Federal Court had dismissed its appeal in the Finder Wallet case relating to a crypto-asset related product Finder Earn.  The ruling upheld the original decision of the Federal Court, which found that the Finder Earn product was not a debenture and therefore Finder Wallet (now Wallet Ventures Pty Ltd) had not breached the Corporations Act, as alleged by ASIC.

The Finder Wallet case was part of the so-called ‘ASIC Trilogy’ which arose following ASIC litigation against 3 cryptocurrency businesses that it believed had failed to comply with existing financial regulations and licence requirements under the Corporations Act.  Wallet Ventures offered a “Finder App” whereby customers could obtain access to a Finder Wallet.  Customers could deposit AUD in a Finder Wallet and exchange it for “TrueAUD”, a stablecoin pegged to the AUD.  Customers had several options from there, including purchasing other cryptocurrencies with the TrueAUD, or relevantly to the case, allocating the TrueAUD to the “Finder Earn” product, where the TrueAUD would be invested in cryptocurrencies for a set term.  The appeal concerned whether Finder Earn was a debenture within the meaning of section 9 of the Corporations Act.  The primary judge held that Finder Earn was not a debenture.  ASIC appealed it and the appeal was dismissed.

The definition of a debenture requires “money” deposited with or lent to the body.  However, cryptocurrency was considered by the Court to be “a species of property”.  The arrangement was instead construed as something closer to a securities lending arrangement, whereby securities are borrowed and repaid.  In response, ASIC contended that there was one holistic “arrangement” within the meaning of section 761B of the Corporations.  The broad argument was that, converting the money to TrueAUD was part of the same holistic arrangement as investing the TrueAUD.  However, it was important that investing in the Finder Earn product was only one of the options for customers with access to the Finder Wallet.

The media release adds that ASIC is carefully considering the decision and its implications.