The Australian Securities & Investments Commission secured a unanimous High Court ruling that Block Earner’s fixed-yield digital asset product, Earner, was a financial product and therefore could only be offered with an Australian financial services licence. The 7-0 decision overturns the Full Court of the Federal Court’s 2025 ruling and confirms that Earner, which was offered from March to November 2022, fell within the existing financial services regime. The High Court found that Earner was a facility through which investors made a financial investment because their funds were used, or intended to be used, to generate a return for both the investor and the issuer. It also accepted ASIC’s argument that Earner was a derivative because the amount returned to investors varied by reference to digital asset values and exchange rates. In doing so, the court emphasized that the financial product definitions in the Corporations Act 2001 are deliberately broad and adaptable, and that the legal analysis should focus on the underlying arrangements and contractual substance rather than how a product is labelled or marketed. The matter will now return to the Full Court of the Federal Court for ASIC’s appeal against the Federal Court’s penalty judgment.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission2026-06-17
Australian Securities & Investments Commission wins High Court ruling that Block Earner digital asset product required a financial services licence
ASIC won a unanimous High Court appeal establishing that Block Earner’s Earner product was a financial product that required an Australian financial services licence. The court held that the product involved a financial investment and also met the definition of a derivative because investor returns varied with digital asset values and exchange rates. The case now returns to the Full Court of the Federal Court on ASIC’s penalty appeal.