Bitcoin crash gives way to steady growth
The price of bitcoin has crashed in early 2019 but some experts in the field argue that the news is not all bad, with the future for cryptocurrencies looking fairly strong. At the end of January 2019, the price of bitcoin was US$3525, having slumped from a peak of over US$19,000 in late 2017. This is not the first crash in a market known for its volatility, and in previous downswings the price has eventually settled at a point that shows a long-term upwards trend. For example, at the start of 2017 the price was about US$975. The general feeling in the market is that much of the massive movement […]
St.George customers can now use Google Pay to withdraw cash
St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne customers can select cheque or savings when using Google Pay to withdraw cash at the checkout. EFTPOS has today announced it’s expanding its service to Google Pay with St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne. The partnership means that customers of these participating banks can use Google Pay on their Android smartphone to withdraw cash at the checkout of participating stores, all without their physical debit card. The partnership enables customers to select savings or cheque when making contactless purchases with Google pay, meaning the transaction will be processed as an EFTPOS transaction rather than going through as credit. Just like when you use your […]
Australian regulator trials Blockchain to Automate Transaction Reporting
An Australian financial regulator is trialing blockchain technology to automate reporting of cross-border transactions by institutions. ZDNet reported Sunday that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has partnered with the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne to build a prototype for the trial. The two partners will specifically examine how blockchain and smart contracts, as well as other technologies, can help entities such as banks to automate reporting of international funds transfer instructions (IFTIs) to the regulator. Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act mandates that institutions or specific categories of individuals involved in a cross-border transfer of funds – including payer, sender and beneficiary institution – must report […]
The Samsung Galaxy S10 has a cryptocurrency wallet built in
Samsung is one of the first major smartphone makers to include a cryptocurrency wallet in its latest flagship Galaxy S10 phones. The wallet lets users store bitcoin, Ethereum, and a beauty-related cryptocurrency called Cosmo Coin. It’s a cold storage wallet, meaning it’s not connected to the internet. The Galaxy S10 phones also support select decentralized apps (“Dapps”). Currently, Samsung’s main Dapp that’s available is called Cosmee, and it lets users earn Cosmo tokens in exchange for leaving beauty reviews in the app. Cosmochain, the South Korean blockchain startup behind Cosmee, describes its app to The Verge as a blockchain-powered beauty review app — the blockchain is supposed to be a […]
How to invest on a shoestring
Investing was once thought to be solely a pursuit of the wealthy, but new money tools have made it possible to invest with as little as a few dollars at a time. Despite this, many Australians are still under the misconception that to invest you need to have plenty of money, according to Christian Obrist, who is head of the Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) business of global fund manager BlackRock. Obrist told Trading Day this means more people are stashing their money in long-term, low-performance saving accounts. “A lot of cash sits idle in bank accounts. And in the last 10 years in Australia specifically, interest rates have come down [and] you […]
Bitcoin – The Future of Money
Technology has changed the world around us, penetrating into our daily lives to such an extent that it’s now difficult to imagine the world without it. The financial industry has been particularly impacted by digital advances, going from banknotes to credit cards to Bitcoin in just a few decades. But is Bitcoin really the future of money? Or is it just a fad destined to go away when some other form of electronic cash appears? To answer these questions, we must first take a closer look at the evolution of money to see its possible future. The Evolution of Money The evolution of money is long and winding, but most […]
Make money while you sleep with technology and automation
Technology and automation are delivering Australians new ways to earn money while they’re sleeping.There has been rapid growth in new savings and investment products that allow people to start building wealth with a few taps of their smartphone or computer keyboard, then let the power of compound interest do its work.Here are four ways to get rich automatically. ROUNDING UP Fast-growing financial technology company Raiz automatically moves its clients’ spare change to an investment portfolio or superannuation. It rounds up every transaction to the nearest dollar, and now manages more than $270 million of people’s funds, up 60 per cent in the past nine months. Raiz managing director George Lucas […]
Fintech gold rush tipped as KPMG finds Australian investment hit $842m in 2018
Big four professional services firm KPMG has tipped even more funding will come for Australian fintech players in the wake of new open banking rules and the banking royal commission, despite a huge rise in deals taking spending to $US600 million ($842 million) in 2018. In new local figures derived from its biannual global Pulse of Fintech study, KPMG said deals in the local sector picked up last year, following a drop-off in 2017, when capital raisings, acquisitions and IPOs had fallen to $US200 million. The report found that globally a record $US111.8 billion was invested in fintech firms in 2018, with Asian funding reached a new high of $US22.7 […]
