Australia’s corporate regulator is seeking special leave from the High Court to appeal a ruling in favour of crypto firm Block Earner, intensifying a legal dispute over the status of digital asset yield products.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, is asking the High Court to clarify how interest-earning and asset conversion products should be treated under the Corporations Act.
“The definition of financial product was drafted in a broad and technology-neutral way, and ASIC believes it is in the public interest to clarify this,” the agency said in a statement. “This clarification is important as it applies to all financial products and services, whether they involve crypto-assets or not.”
Special leave is required to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The court grants it only in cases involving significant legal questions or matters of public interest. Appeals are not heard automatically, and ASIC, in this case, must first obtain the court’s permission.
In April, a decision by the Full Federal Court overturned earlier findings against Block Earner, which ASIC argues had offered a fixed-yield crypto product called “Earner” without a financial services licence.
The Full Court found the offering did not constitute a financial product under existing law, a blow to ASIC’s efforts to bring crypto services under the same framework as traditional finance.
The case was brought to the court following an earlier Federal Court ruling in February 2024, which found that Block Earner had engaged in unlicensed conduct when offering the Earner product between March and November 2022.
However, the Court dismissed ASIC’s claims against Block Earner’s variable-yield product, “Access,” and in June relieved the company of penalties.
That decision was then appealed by ASIC and counter-appealed by Block Earner, culminating in the Full Federal Court’s ruling in April 2025.
Block Earner, the trading name of Web3 Ventures Pty Ltd, has since shuttered the product and has stated it has no plans to relaunch it.
The company argues that its offering simply allowed customers to loan crypto under fixed terms and receive interest, without pooling funds or exposing users to business risk.
“From the outset, we sought to ensure that our modern product suite could fit into a less-modern regulatory environment,” Charlie Karaboga, CEO and co-founder of Block Earner, said in April.
The High Court has not yet set a date to consider ASIC’s application.
Decrypt has approached Block Earner for comment.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
