Australia’s Treasury released its latest Intergenerational Report on Sept. 22, framing artificial intelligence as one of five major transitions expected to shape the economy over the next 40 years. The report says agentic AI systems have become markedly more autonomous, more powerful and more widely used, with some benchmark results now exceeding human performance. It does not mention cryptocurrency anywhere in the document.
John O'Loghlen, Coinbase’s country director for Australia, said in an emailed comment that the report makes clear the country’s prosperity over the next four decades will depend heavily on its ability to adopt new technologies and lift productivity. At the same time, he said, the report’s focus on AI completely misses the financial infrastructure required by those agents.
The omission is not new. Previous editions of the Intergenerational Report also did not cover digital assets. Separately, the Reserve Bank of Australia has stepped up its attention this year on tokenized finance and upgrades to financial infrastructure. The Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre has estimated that digital finance innovation could generate A$24 billion, or about $17.1 billion, in annual economic benefits. A Treasury Financial Innovation Strategy report published on Sept. 3 also linked AI with financial infrastructure needs, saying agentic systems may increase automation and machine-to-machine transactions, driving greater demand for real-time, interoperable and programmable payment systems.
Australia’s Treasury published its latest Intergenerational Report on Sept. 22, naming artificial intelligence as one of five major transitions expected to have a deep impact on the economy over the next 40 years. The report does not mention cryptocurrency.
The document says agentic AI systems have become "significantly" more autonomous, more powerful and more widely used, with performance on some benchmarks now exceeding human levels. The other four transitions identified in the report are geopolitical conflict, population aging, the shift to clean energy, and Australia’s industrial transition toward services.
Coinbase Australia points to a missing piece
In an emailed comment, Coinbase Australia Country Director John O'Loghlen said the report clearly shows that Australia’s prosperity over the next 40 years will depend to a large extent on its ability to adopt new technologies and improve productivity. He added that while the report puts strong focus on AI, it completely leaves out the financial infrastructure required by these agents.
Previous Intergenerational Reports also did not address digital assets, according to the report.
Separate policy work has covered tokenization and payments infrastructure
Even with that omission, the Reserve Bank of Australia earlier this year increased its focus on tokenized finance and upgrades to financial infrastructure. The Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre has estimated that digital finance innovation could deliver A$24 billion, or about $17.1 billion, in economic benefits each year.
In a separate Financial Innovation Strategy report released by the Treasury on Sept. 3, the government discussed the link between AI and financial infrastructure. That report said agentic systems could increase automation and machine-to-machine transactions, creating greater demand for payment systems that are real-time, interoperable and programmable.
This article was originally published by Bit.Fan. For more cryptocurrency news and market insights, visit www.bit.fan. Disclaimer:
The market information, project data, and third-party content displayed on this platform are for industry information sharing only and do not constitute any form of investment advice or return commitment.
Cryptocurrency trading carries high risks. Users should fully assess their risk tolerance and make independent decisions. All profits, losses, and legal responsibilities are borne by the users themselves.
