# Property tokens sold from overseas: licence, AFCA, foreign investment
When a platform abroad offers tokens tied to Queensland property, which Australian rules reach it, what protections an investor gives up, and where foreign investment law applies.
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A token linked to a Brisbane apartment or a Gold Coast townhouse can be bought from a phone in Toowoomba, but the company selling it may sit in another country entirely. The investor sees an Australian address on the property and assumes Australian rules travel with it. Often they do not, or only partly, and the gap matters most when something goes wrong.
The question runs in both directions. Australians are offered tokens by platforms run from abroad, and people outside Australia buy tokens tied to Queensland land. The first raises licensing and consumer protection questions under federal financial services law, administered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The second raises foreign investment questions under the federal screening regime, which the Treasury runs and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) enforces for residential property.
This guide sets out what the regulators' own published material says on each point: when an offshore issuer is expected to hold an Australian licence, what a retail investor loses when it does not, how complaints work, which checks ASIC and its consumer site Moneysmart point to, and how the foreign investment rules look at a token holder who lives overseas. It describes general rules only. How any one offer is treated depends on its exact legal structure, and that is a question for a lawyer who has read the documents.
19,400+online scams ASIC took down in 2025-26
182%rise on the year before
$837 millionlost by Australians to investment scams, 2025
Moneysmart's investment scams page, last updated 17 August 2026, citing ASIC takedowns and National Anti-Scam Centre loss figures.
## What "offered from overseas" covers
An offer reaches Australians from overseas in a few common shapes. A company incorporated abroad runs a website or app that accepts Australian sign-ups. A foreign entity issues the tokens while a local marketing partner promotes them. Or the whole structure is offshore, with Queensland property as the only Australian element, perhaps held by a local company or trust that the foreign issuer controls.
ASIC's information sheet on digital assets (INFO 225, last updated 30 April 2026) makes a basic point that applies to all of these. In its words, the use of offshore or decentralised structures does not mean that key obligations under Australian laws stop applying. ASIC says Australian laws can apply where a digital asset is promoted or sold in Australia, or where services are provided in Australia, including from offshore.
Whether the token is a financial product in the first place is a separate question, and the answer depends on the rights it carries. That classification is not repeated here. What follows assumes a token that does fall within financial services law, because that is the case in which the licensing and protection questions arise at all. Where a token sits outside that law, Moneysmart's crypto-assets page (last updated 26 August 2026) states plainly that investors are protected only to the extent that crypto fits within existing laws.
## When an offshore issuer needs an Australian licence
ASIC's starting rule, stated in INFO 225, is that persons are generally required to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence to carry on a financial services business in Australia. Financial services include dealing in a financial product, giving advice about it, making a market for it and providing custody.
For an overseas business, the question ASIC puts in the same document is whether it is carrying on a financial services business in Australia. If it is, ASIC says it must be licensed and must also meet the product disclosure and design and distribution obligations that apply to the product.
INFO 225 also describes the edge of that reach. Where an overseas digital asset issuer provides a financial service from outside Australia, without engaging in conduct intended to induce people in Australia, ASIC says there is no requirement to prepare a product disclosure statement (PDS). That statement comes with a qualifier: it is subject to any anti-avoidance measures. An issuer that markets to Australians, writes for them, or targets them with advertising is in different territory from one that simply happens to be reachable from Australia.
ASIC's guidance for overseas platforms that do not hold an Australian market licence lists steps such a platform may take: screening out Australian clients as part of its know-your-customer checks, blocking access by location, and placing warnings and disclosures on its webpages and apps. For an investor, a foreign platform whose own terms exclude Australian residents, or that shows a warning page on arrival, is telling them it does not mean to serve them under Australian rules.
One protection follows an offer across the border regardless of licensing. INFO 225 notes that Australian laws prohibiting misleading or deceptive conduct may apply even if a digital asset is issued, traded or sold offshore. Enforcing it against a company with no presence in Australia is a separate matter, which the information sheet does not address.
## The foreign provider route, and who it is for
Australia does have a pathway for financial firms regulated elsewhere. ASIC's Regulatory Guide 176 (last updated 16 June 2025) explains when a foreign financial services provider may obtain a modified licence, called a foreign AFS licence, and when it may qualify for other relief for funds management services to certain professional investors.
The audience of that guide is stated on its own page: foreign providers that wish to provide financial services to wholesale clients or professional investors in Australia. The page does not describe a route for retail clients. In other words, the regime written for foreign firms is aimed at large and professional investors, not at the household buying a few hundred dollars of tokens tied to a rental unit.
The distinction matters because the investor protections described in the next section are tied to dealing with retail clients. For everyday investors, Moneysmart's own test is simpler: a company offering investments must hold an AFS licence or be authorised by someone who does.
The words "wholesale" and "professional" have legal tests behind them. Because the protections described below attach to retail clients, a platform that asks an investor to confirm wholesale or sophisticated status is asking about more than paperwork.
## What a licensed provider must give retail investors
INFO 225 lists the obligations that come with providing financial services to retail clients. They are the protections an investor gives up when the provider sits outside the Australian licensing system. The table sets them side by side.
Retail protections with and without an Australian licenceAs described in ASIC's INFO 225 and Moneysmart material
Protection
Licensed provider, retail client
Offshore provider outside the licensing system
Disclosure
PDS and financial services guide
Often a whitepaper only, of variable quality
Complaints inside the firm
Internal dispute resolution required
Whatever the firm's own terms offer
External complaints
AFCA membership required
No Australian membership obligation
Compensation
Arrangements required, mainly insurance
No Australian requirement
Licence check
Listed on ASIC's professional registers
Check the home regulator instead
ASIC INFO 225 (last updated 30 April 2026); Moneysmart crypto-assets page (26 August 2026) on whitepapers.
The disclosure gap is the most visible one. Moneysmart's crypto-assets page notes that there is usually no PDS or prospectus for crypto, and that developers may instead publish a whitepaper, which varies in format and quality. A PDS has legal content requirements and legal consequences if it is wrong. A whitepaper drafted under another country's rules, or under none, may say very little about who holds the Queensland title, what happens to rent, or how an investor gets out.
The compensation requirement is less visible but just as real. INFO 225 says that a provider of financial services to retail clients must have arrangements for compensating those clients, and that the primary method is professional indemnity insurance. An offshore firm outside the system has no Australian obligation to hold it.
Moneysmart's guidance on checking an investment before committing (last updated 4 September 2026) puts the overall effect in one line: if a person invests in something unlicensed and unregulated in Australia, it is harder to get help if things go wrong. The same page lists "international investments not offered by licensed Australian providers" among the investments ASIC does not regulate, alongside direct investment in real estate, and notes that these are often higher risk.
## Complaints when the firm is abroad
In Australia, a dispute with a financial firm follows a set path. Moneysmart's complaints guide (last updated 6 August 2026) describes it: raise the problem with the business, then make a formal written complaint through its internal process, and if that fails, take it to the external dispute resolution scheme, which is free for consumers. For financial services, that scheme is the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which handles complaints about investments, financial advice, credit, banking, insurance and superannuation.
The link between AFCA and licensing is direct. AFCA's own complaint page states that it is compulsory for licensed financial services providers in Australia to be a member and take part in the AFCA process, and INFO 225 lists AFCA membership among the obligations of a provider serving retail clients. A firm outside the Australian licensing system carries no such obligation.
AFCA's page also says that anyone unsure whether AFCA can consider their complaint should lodge it anyway so that AFCA can review it. That is worth knowing, because the line between a covered and an uncovered firm is not always obvious from the outside, for example where a local entity promotes an offer issued abroad. But an investor should not assume that a foreign issuer's dispute will end up before an Australian ombudsman.
Without AFCA, what remains is the firm's own complaint process, whatever regulator supervises it in its home country, and the courts. Pursuing a company through a foreign court, under foreign law, is a far heavier undertaking than a free complaint to an Australian scheme, especially over a token worth a few thousand dollars.
## Checking an offshore offer before money moves
ASIC and Moneysmart point to a short list of checks, and most of them work for an offer from abroad as well as one from home. Moneysmart's check-before-you-invest page says a company offering investments must hold an AFS licence or be authorised by someone who does, and that the licence should be confirmed on ASIC's Professional Registers Search using details found independently rather than the contact details in the offer itself. It adds that holding a licence does not mean ASIC endorses the company or the product.
Five checks the regulators point to for a foreign offer
Look up the Australian licenceSearch ASIC's Professional Registers for the issuer and any local promoter, using details found independently.
Check the investor alert listMoneysmart lists firms that may target Australians without an Australian licence.
Search the IOSCO alert portalThe international regulators' body publishes warnings about firms worldwide.
Ask the home regulatorFor a company abroad, Moneysmart says to check its licence with the regulator in that country.
Read whatever document existsA PDS or a whitepaper: who holds the title, who holds the money, how to exit.
The investor alert list, according to its Moneysmart page (last updated 16 March 2026), names companies, businesses and websites that may be targeting Australian consumers, do not hold an AFS or credit licence, and are not allowed to offer investments in Australia. The page warns that the list is not exhaustive and that names and contact details change, so a firm's absence from it proves nothing. For overseas companies, the same page points to the alert portal of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and to the regulator in the company's home country, noting that IOSCO publishes a list of those regulators.
A licence in another country is not an Australian licence. Because AFCA membership and the PDS regime are tied to Australian licensing, a firm that is properly regulated in its own jurisdiction may still sit outside both.
## Scam warnings that use property and tokens
A genuine offshore issuer and a scam can look identical on a screen, which is why the regulators' scam material belongs in any guide to offers from abroad. Moneysmart's investment scams page says that in an investment scam, the product does not exist, and that many such scams involve overseas criminal networks. It notes that money is often moved quickly between accounts or converted to cryptocurrency, which makes recovery difficult.
Moneysmart's crypto scams page (last updated 1 October 2026) describes patterns that map closely onto a property token pitch: fake trading platforms that show early gains to encourage larger deposits before locking the investor out, apps downloaded from a scammer's own website rather than an official store, and token "pre-sales" hyped until enough money comes in, after which the promoters cash out. It lists warning signs including unexpected contact, pressure to act quickly, guaranteed returns and demands to send crypto only, and states that if money is lost to a crypto scam, it is likely gone.
The same page reports that ASIC took down more than 19,400 online scams in the 2025-26 financial year, including more than 3,000 cryptocurrency investment scams. A real building, real photographs and a real Queensland street name do not prove that a token is connected to that building. The registered title, not the platform's page, is the record of who owns the land.
> A Queensland address on the brochure does not bring Queensland protections with it. The licence, the complaints scheme and the disclosure travel with the issuer, not with the building.
## Foreign token holders and Queensland land
The second half of the question starts with a person outside Australia who buys a token tied to Queensland property. Federal foreign investment law does not mention tokens. It asks what the person has acquired, and whether that thing is an interest in Australian land.
The Treasury's Guidance Note 2 on key concepts (version 5, December 2025) sets out the definition. An interest in Australian land covers a legal or equitable interest in the land. It also covers a share in an Australian land corporation and a unit in an Australian land trust, as well as a security in an entity that gives a right to occupy a flat or home unit on the land. Some leases and licences count where their term is reasonably likely to exceed five years. The general limb excludes an interest in a unit in a unit trust; units in an Australian land trust are caught by a separate limb.
A token can sit in any of these boxes, or none, depending on what it represents. A token that records an equitable share of a lot held on trust, a token that is a unit in a trust holding mainly land, and a token that is only a contractual claim to a share of rent are three different things in law. The guidance assesses Australian land acquisitions title by title, according to a footnote in the Treasury's residential land guidance, so the analysis follows the specific property and the specific right.
The definition of a foreign person, in the Treasury's key concepts guidance (last updated 12 December 2025), starts with an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia. To be ordinarily resident, a person must have been in Australia for 200 or more days in the preceding 12 months, with no limit on their continued presence. Temporary residents and foreign non-residents are treated as foreign investors.
For residential land, the Treasury's residential land page (last updated 1 July 2026) says foreign investors generally need to notify the ATO before acquiring residential land, regardless of value. From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, foreign investors are generally prohibited from purchasing established dwellings, with limited exceptions. Guidance Note 6 (version 5, 1 July 2026) gives an example of a foreign investor taking a tenant-in-common interest in residential land through a joint venture, which may require approval, and warns that significant penalties, including infringement notices and civil and criminal penalties, may apply to breaches.
None of this tells an overseas buyer whether a particular token needs approval. It does show that "it is only a token" is not an answer the regime accepts on its own. If the token is, in law, a share of the land or a unit in a land-rich trust, the ordinary rules are in play.
## When the vehicle itself turns foreign
There is a further effect that falls on the Australian investors in a structure, not only on the overseas ones. The foreign person definition in the Treasury's guidance extends to entities. A corporation is a foreign person if a person not ordinarily resident in Australia, a foreign corporation or a foreign government holds a substantial interest in it, and Guidance Note 2 sets a substantial interest at 20 per cent, counting associates. It is also a foreign person if two or more such persons together hold an aggregate substantial interest, set at 40 per cent. The guidance applies the same tests to the trustee of a trust, measured on beneficial interests in the trust's income or property.
Worth knowing
A trust or company can become a foreign person through its holders
Under the Treasury's guidance, a trust or company in which foreign holders together reach 40 per cent, or one of them reaches 20 per cent, is itself treated as foreign. Its own purchases of residential land then face the foreign rules, including the ban on established dwellings that runs to 30 June 2029.
For a tokenised vehicle sold internationally, the register of holders can change every day. A trust that starts with mostly Australian token holders and sells heavily overseas could cross a threshold without any single sale looking significant. The guidance does not address tokens or how a fluctuating register is measured, so how this applies to a given structure is a question for advice. What an Australian investor can reasonably ask is whether the issuer monitors the foreign share of its register, and what it would do if a threshold were crossed.
## Queensland's own foreign test
For land tax, Queensland applies its own definition, and it does not use the federal percentages. The Queensland Revenue Office's land tax page for foreign companies and trusts (last updated 5 May 2026) treats a company as foreign if it is incorporated outside Australia or if foreign persons and their related persons have at least a 50 per cent controlling interest. A trust is a foreign trust where at least 50 per cent of the trust interests are held by people who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, by foreign companies, by trustees of foreign trusts, or by related persons of any of these.
The same page sets the land tax surcharge for foreign companies and trustees of foreign trusts at 3 per cent of the taxable value above $350,000, payable where the taxable value of the freehold land at 30 June is $350,000 or more.
The consequence for a tokenised vehicle is that the federal and state questions have different answers at different points. A trust can be a foreign person for federal screening at 40 per cent aggregate foreign holding while still sitting below the 50 per cent line that Queensland uses for the land tax surcharge. The two tests are measured on different terms and should never be treated as one.
## Where the rules stand
The material in this guide reflects the regulators' pages as they read in October 2026. ASIC's INFO 225, in its April 2026 update, noted that the Government was consulting on draft changes to regulate digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms, and that ASIC might update the information sheet once those changes are finalised. Foreign investment guidance is also revised regularly: the Treasury's monetary thresholds page, for example, records that updated screening thresholds took effect on 1 January 2026.
For an Australian considering a token issued from abroad, the general picture from the regulators' own words is consistent. Australian law can reach an offshore issuer that targets Australians, but the protections built for retail investors, from the PDS to AFCA to compensation arrangements, attach to Australian licensing. Where there is no Australian licence, ASIC and Moneysmart both say it is harder to get help. For anyone outside Australia buying into Queensland land through a token, federal foreign investment law looks through the label to the interest acquired, and a vehicle with enough foreign holders can become foreign itself.