NEW ZEALAND Law and Practice Contributed by: James Cochrane, Andrew Comer, Carlo Wan and Graeme Crombie, Lane Neave
Lane Neave Level 8, Vero Centre 48 Shortland Street Auckland 1010 New Zealand
Tel: +64 9 300 6263 Fax: +64 3 379 8370 Email: James.cochrane@laneneave.co.nz Web: www.laneneave.co.nz
1. Overview of Blockchain and Crypto- Assets 1.1 Blockchain 1.1.1 Evolution of Uses of Blockchain Use and Development of Blockchain in the Last 12 Months Blockchain adoption in New Zealand (NZ) remains cautious and incremental. Over the past 12 months, regulatory engagement and compliance developments have outweighed large-scale commercial deployment. The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) Long-Term Insights Briefing on the Future of Business for Aotearoa New Zealand (the “MBIE Brief- ing Paper”) reaffirmed government interest in block- chain’s potential for supply chain integrity, digital identity and verifiable data, particularly in agriculture and health, but no new blockchain-specific policy was released. Regulatory momentum has continued following the Report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee (FEC), August 2023 (the “FEC Report”), with more structured engagement between industry and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in 2025, signalling an intention to bring crypto-asset platforms within clearer supervisory boundaries. From a tax perspec- tive, Inland Revenue (IRD) implemented the Crypto- Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) with effect from 1 April 2026, significantly increasing reporting obliga- tions and transparency for crypto-asset service pro- viders.
Consumer protection has remained a major focus. Crypto-related scams have continued at scale, prompting co-ordinated warnings and enforcement activity involving the FMA, IRD and the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), reinforcing a regulatory emphasis on supervision, disclosure and enforcement. Industry engagement has also increased. In Decem- ber 2025, Blockchain Forum New Zealand (formerly BlockchainNZ) published A Roadmap for New Zea- land’s Digital Assets Economy: 2025–2030 (the “NZ Strategy Paper”), advocating for a phased, inter- nationally aligned regulatory framework. Expressly directed at parliament and regulatory agencies, it calls for co-ordinated legislative and regulatory action to clarify the legal treatment of digital assets (including classification, custody, exchanges and stablecoins) through a phased reform programme to 2030, aligned with international standards and aimed at reducing regulatory uncertainty while supporting responsible innovation. Current Use Cases Active use cases under consideration include the fol- lowing. • Tokenisation of assets – Following the FMA’s dis- cussion paper on tokenisation in September 2025, firms are exploring blockchain-based representa- tions of assets such as real estate, forestry, mining interests, carbon credits and precious metals. In March 2026, the FMA published a summary of the submissions received. The key themes included: (a) regulatory uncertainty is materially constraining adoption;
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