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ARTICLE · 04 SEPTEMBER 2025

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Crypto In The Courts – ASIC v Finder Update

K&L Gates
K&L Gates
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The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed ASIC's appeal and upheld the primary judge's decision that Finder Wallet's (Finder) product "Finder Earn" was not a "debenture" and they did not have to hold an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL).

AustraliaTechnology
Daniel Knight
Daniel Knight
Ben Kneebush
Ben Kneebush
Thais Fernandes
Thais Fernandes

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed ASIC's appeal and upheld the primary judge's decision that Finder Wallet's (Finder) product "Finder Earn" was not a "debenture" and they did not have to hold an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL). ASIC is still considering the implications of this decision and have not yet indicated whether they will seek to appeal to the High Court of Australia.

What happened last time?

As discussed in our previous blog post, the Finder Earn product allowed customers to exchange money in their Finder account for TrueAUD stablecoins and receive fixed returns in TrueAUD upon expiry.

At trial, the court accepted Finder's case that Finder Earn did not fall within the definition of a "debenture" as there was no "money deposited or loaned" to Finder and consequently there was no "undertaking to repay".

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