Australia’s High Court just handed crypto regulators one of their biggest wins anywhere in the world. In a unanimous decision on June 17, the court ruled that Block Earner’s discontinued fixed-yield crypto product qualified as a financial product under the country’s existing Corporations Act, no new crypto-specific laws required.
The decision overturns a Full Federal Court ruling from April 2025 that had sided with Block Earner, and it sends a clear message to every platform offering yield on digital assets in Australia: if it walks like a financial product and quacks like a financial product, the regulator is coming for you.
What Block Earner was selling, and why it matters
Block Earner, formally known as Web3 Ventures Pty Ltd, operated a product called “Earner” that let users lend specified crypto assets in exchange for fixed returns. The rates were not subtle. Users could earn 7% on stablecoins like USDC and 4% on other eligible crypto assets.
The product ran from March to November 2022 before being voluntarily shut down. Block Earner did not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) at the time, which is the whole reason the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) got involved.
