Did anyone play Farmville when they were in their teen badboy gaming era? No? Just me?

Anyway, we’re going to take a deep dive into Big Pharm(ville) in today’s newsletter.

Last week, the Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino announced proposed new regulations for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. 

In short, it will mean the rules for the cryptocurrency industry in Australia could be about to become much stricter, if this law is passed.

Why do we care? Well, the draft laws mark a profound shift in how crypto could be regulated in Australia. We’re moving from a low-oversight approach to a high-oversight approach, treating crypto just like any other financial product. 

Let’s break down exactly what the draft legislation entails. 

The new regulations extend Australia’s existing regulations for financial products to cryptocurrencies. 

This means that the finance regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), would effectively treat crypto exchanges like they treat banks and stockbrokers. When you put your money in the bank, there are rules about what the bank can and can’t do with your money. For example, they can’t take your money to the casino, gamble, and if they win, keep the profit. Now, similarly, when you buy crypto on an crypto exchange, there are rules about what the exchange can and can’t do with your money.

Here are the proposed new rules that are noteworthy:

If you hold crypto, it means you might see some exchanges disappear, and your holdings are transferred to another exchange. This is because more regulations can create costly overheads making some exchanges unprofitable, so they might get bought out by bigger companies. 

If you don’t trade crypto but you’re crypto curious, then this means you can probably trade with more confidence that your money won’t get stolen. You may remember the story of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX – his exchange stole money from about 30,000 Australians (as well as thousands of others). The new licensing regime should provide sufficient oversight to prevent that from happening again. 

If you don’t trade crypto and you’re not crypto curious, play on! 

This is still a draft proposal. The government is still consulting with the industry on next steps. Submissions on the draft close in late October.

There’s also more regulation in the pipeline, in particular relating to stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of the AUD.  

The crypto industry has backed the proposed change. Swyftx CEO Jason Titman told Cointelegraph: “I don’t think our industry should be frightened of high standards…it looks like the government is balancing consumer protections and innovation in a sensible and thoughtful way.”

If you are crypto curious, or even crypto not-curious, I would recommend Zeke Faux’s book Number Go Up. It is an awesome read. It explains what crypto is and the wild story of its inception up until now.

Dusk has been adding value to Aussie homes for 25 years

Their Signature Collection just got a refresh: same bestsellers, rebalanced and refined to fit your everyday rituals. Think of it as a small investment that makes Tuesday nights feel just as good as Saturday.

Because little luxuries pay the biggest dividends…

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on pharmaceuticals. We covered it on TDA’s Instagram – you can check out Achol’s story here. 

In response, Australia’s Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said: “None of these latest announcements…make a jot of difference to our determination to protect the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).”  

What do these new tariffs have to do with the PBS? What’s really going on here?

The PBS is the Australian Government’s policy for keeping the cost of medicines low. The Government negotiates with pharmaceutical companies and sets medication prices in Australia. Then, through the PBS, the government sets a price that consumers face (this is what you pay), and sets the government subsidy (this is what the government pays). 

For example, if you have asthma, you may be prescribed an inhaler. The Australian Government has negotiated with the pharmaceutical companies to fix the price at $55. When you buy your inhaler at the pharmacy, you pay $30 and the government pays $25. For other examples, have a look at the real cost of medicines here. 

An important note: The government drives a hard bargain in these negotiations. They tell the pharmaceutical companies “if you want to sell this medication in Australia, then you have to agree to our terms.” And generally, these terms mean low prices for Australian patients, and low profits for pharmaceutical companies. 

But why do they accept low profits?

Here’s the key point: the reason pharmaceutical companies agree to low prices in Australia is because they can charge higher prices in the U.S. and rake back some of those lost profits. The U.S.Government, unlike the Australian Government, is not allowed to bargain with the pharmaceutical companies to set prices at low levels. And the result is much higher medicine prices in the U.S.:

Effectively, yes. 

The only way the system works is because U.S. consumers pay more. If the companies could not charge higher prices in the U.S, they would not make enough profits based on Australian prices to pay their staff and fund their research. 

But it’s more than that. The U.S. also funds way more research and development into pharmaceuticals than any other country. The U.S. Government spends 0.21% of GDP on medical research, compared to 0.07% in the EU, and 0.004% in France.

Not only do U.S. consumers pay higher prices for medication, but more of their taxes fund medical research.

Yes. 

The U.S. Government is making moves to lower the cost of medications in the U.S. For example, starting next year, U.S. Medicare and Medicaid is allowed to start bargaining with medicine manufacturers to fix lower prices (like the Australian Government does with the PBS). 

However, this would mean lower profits for pharmaceutical companies. So, the U.S. government is also working to increase the cost of medications in other countries, so that U.S. consumers paying less does not mean pharmaceutical companies fail. For example, the U.S. has pressured the UK into increasing the prices of some medications. On UK medicine prices, a top advisor to the PM said “our pricing structure is an issue”. The UK Science Minister said “for some medicines, we need to pay a bit more”. 

So, Australia’s Health Minister probably foresees some pressure from the U.S. Government to increase medicine prices in Australia. That’s why he brought up the PBS. 

Yes. It really is. Serious illness can already be a huge financial burden on Australian families. And it could get bigger. 

We will have to watch this space.

When I was a kid, the number I had in mind for Australia’s population was 26 million. I don’t recall ever getting asked “Hey Sam, how many Australians are there in the world?”. But I know my answer would have been “26 million. Could’ve looked that one up mate” 

ANYWAYS, the ABS released new population estimates about two weeks ago. Australia’s population is now about 27.5 million. The state with the fastest growing population is Western Australia, (2.3% growth from March 2024 - March 2025), and the slowest growing is Tasmania (only 0.2% growth).