Australian financial regulator to focus on ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges
In its 2018-22 corporate plan report, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed it would be focusing on cryptocurrencies with an emphasis on ICOs and exchanges. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) published a report this week that details its plans to tightly scrutinize the crypto industry in the country. The areas of great focus, according to the regulator, will be on crypto exchanges and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The detailed report was part of the regulator’s ‘Corporate Plan 2018-2022′, which explained its plans for 2018 and 2019. ASIC’s mandate includes oversight over the country’s financial services, markets, corporate investments, and consumer credit. ASIC mitigating crypto risk for […]
Half of millennials say cryptocurrency will soon be widely used
Millennials are keen on bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, according to a recent YouGov survey. 44% of millennials (just under half) say they think it will be “somewhat” or “very” widely accepted in the next 10 years. The survey also found that bitcoin enjoys fairly incredible brand recognition, with 74% of men and 68% of women respondents saying they’d heard of it. Nothing else came close, with only 19% of men and 6% of women saying they’d heard of Ethereum, making it the second most widely-known cryptocurrency. Curiously, 79% of respondents said that they were familiar with at least one type of cryptocurrency, suggesting that there’s a reasonable number of […]
CoinJar exchange lists Zcash (ZEC) offering world first ZEC/AUD order book
CoinJar has expanded its offering by listing Zcash (ZEC) in its portfolio, meaning that for the first time in Australia, cryptocurrency traders and investors will have access to a ZEC/AUD trading pair using an order-book through CoinJar Exchange. Zcash (ZEC) is a leading privacy coin and will be listed alongside Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP). Traders and investors can hedge their ZEC holdings against major fiat pairings including Australian Dollars (AUD), Great British Pounds (GBP), Euros (EUR) and US Dollars (USD) to temporarily protect their portfolio from price fluctuations. CoinJar customers will now be able to send and receive Zcash with their CoinJar wallet, pay bills […]
Cryptocurrency behind Great Keppel Island’s $300 million resurrection
There was a time when Great Keppel Island was sold as the ideal place to go and “get wrecked”, a party island at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. It then faded into disrepair and then into memory. Now an ambitious cryptocurrency consortium plans to resurrect it as a high-tech wonderland including a luxury resort, private villas and apartments, a golf course, retail outlets and a marina in what is being sold as the world’s largest cryptocurrency-backed property deal. If all goes to plan, they boast, when the development is complete Great Keppel will become the world’s largest island cryptocurrency micro-economy, a project that could bring the new digital […]
Australia to trial a SWIFT-er cross-border payments service
SWIFT, the organization providing messaging and standards frameworks to financial institutions, will start trialing its new real-time cross-border payments service in the Asia Pacific region, initially focusing on inbound payments to Australia. With the new instant global payments innovation (gpi) service, banks can improve customer experience by providing faster P2P remittances and SME trade settlement. The trial will initially include banks from Australia, China, Singapore, and Thailand, using the New Payments Platform (NPP). NPP is Australia’s new real-time payments system which went live earlier this year. Although the trial is currently being run on NPP, the service is designed to scale and integrate with real-time systems around the region. According […]
Why Brisbane is the cryptocurrency capital of the country
Queensland is banking on cryptocurrency to boost tourism in the state, with a sizeable grant given to a Brisbane-based start-up that will enable visitors to pay for every aspect of their travel using digital currencies like Bitcoin. The local start-up, TravelbyBit, has received two rounds of funding from the state government and, in turn, has transformed its hometown of Brisbane into one of the most crypto-friendly cities in the world. TravelbyBit’s digital currency point-of-sale system has been deployed to over 200 merchants across Australia, with at least 60 per cent of those located in Queensland. In May, Brisbane Airport became the first in the world to accept cryptocurrency, enabling travellers […]
Australia just lost one of its most promising fintech startups, Airwallex, to Hong Kong
Tencent-backed payment operator Airwallex has become the latest fintech company to show interest in joining Hong Kong’s virtual banking push. Airwallex co-founder and chief executive Jacky Zhang said the company will team up with a traditional bank and other local partners as part of the application process, although he declined to reveal their identities. “We believe Hong Kong to be an ideal location to be our headquarters. Hong Kong is an international financial centre where we can serve our global clients worldwide,” Zhang said in an interview with the South China Morning Post in his newly installed office in Quarry Bay. Another reason for the relocation to Hong Kong is […]
Could Bitcoin replace Credit Cards?
Growing competition in the retail sector – and the possibility that the digital currency could help merchants lower transaction fees that cut into profit margins — could induce them to replace credit cards with Bitcoin. “From a merchant perspective, Bitcoin has the advantage of not having large fees from credit card companies that cut into profits,” writes Ian DeMartino, in The Bitcoin Guidebook: How To Obtain, Invest, And Spend The World’s First Decentralized Cryptocurrency. “Credit card companies typically charge between three to four percent for each transaction, a fee the merchants normally take on themselves. For merchants with small profit margins, that fee could be up half or more of […]
