Bitcoin taps fresh record highs amid rising demand from Japan, China
Bitcoin climbed above USD$2,000 for the first time Saturday on increased demand from Japanese and Chinese investors. The digital currency rose more than 4.5 percent to hit an all-time high of USD$2,061.88, according to CoinDesk.com. Bitcoin was last trading near USD$2,047. Japan accounted for nearly 55 percent of trade volume, up from near 40 percent Thursday, according to CryptoCompare.com. Prices for bitcoin on the Hong Kong-based Bitfinex exchange rose, narrowing a recent gap with the global rate in anticipation that bitcoin traded on Bitfinex can soon be easily converted to U.S. dollars. Chris Burniske, a blockchain products lead analyst at fund manager ARK Invest, pointed out in a tweet Saturday […]
Payout platform Hyperwallet expands into Sydney to target growth in APAC
Vancouver-founded, San Francisco-based payments startup Hyperwallet has expanded into Australia, looking to target growth across the Asia Pacific region from its new Sydney base. It will also have a number of staff on the ground in Melbourne. The company operates a global payout system, effectively allowing companies to easily pay out employees, contractors, or service providers in their local currency. With the gig economy a strong market for Hyperwallet, Australia and the wider APAC region are ripe for growth. The Australian office will be headed up by managing director and senior vice president of APAC, Simon Banks, a former PayPal executive. Appointed in March, Banks said the region is punching […]
Bitcoin rises to record high in blockchain-related boost
Digital currency bitcoin hit a record high overnight as demand for crypto-assets soared with the creation of new tokens to raise funding for start-ups using blockchain technology. Blockchain, the underlying technology behind bitcoin, is a financial ledger maintained by a network of computers that can track the movement of any asset without the need for a central regulator. Bitcoin hit a record $US1760.40 on the BitStamp platform and was last at $US1747.89, up 6 per cent on the day. So far this year, bitcoin has surged nearly 80 per cent. Bitcoin’s market capitalisation overnight soared to $US52.5 billion, according to data from coinmarketcap.com. Aside from being an asset that can […]
Venture capital 3.0: the initial coin offering explained
The venture capital community thrives on disruption. So what happens when the tables are turned and the medicine bottle has their name on it? There’s a new kid riding onto the financing block – riding roughshod across an unregulated landscape. Welcome to the world of the initial coin offering (ICO). An ICO is a hybrid: part crowdfunding, part software token, part speculation. In simple terms, an ICO is often described, somewhat inaccurately, as an IPO for cryptocurrencies. How it works – A tech start-up team creates an ICO using a blockchain-enabled software platform, usually open sourced. – The platform is powered by cryptography-based software tokens – called cryptocurrencies. – The […]
China giant Tencent funds Melbourne fintech start-up
Melbourne-based fintech start-up Airwallex has landed a $US13 million Series A funding round, becoming one of the first Australian companies to raise money from China’s biggest internet company, Tencent. Airwallex, which is building a new foreign exchange payment network, raised funding from the world’s fourth-biggest internet company, along with Sequoia Capital China and Mastercard. “We’ve built a digital banking layer and a digital compliance layer across traditional banking infrastructure,” co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang told The Australian. “You can think of us as a payment network; we’re offering a faster, cheaper way of making payments happen.” Airwallex lets businesses issue and pay invoices in their preferred currency at the mid-market […]
Banks may have to sell rivals’ products
Banks could be forced to sell financial products manufactured by competitors under new powers to be given to the corporate regulator. Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft said the move could break down the economics of cross-selling and force banks to sell their wealth operations. Foreshadowing the end of the vertically-integrated banking model, Mr Medcraft said new laws will give ASIC a mandate to police competition while “product intervention” powers could be used to ensure banks only sell products that are in the best interests of their customers – which might not necessarily be their own. Mr Medcraft said the regulator could use its new powers to limit […]
TorFX Awarded Best Value International Money Transfers
MOZO, one of Australia’s most established and accredited financial comparison websites has just announced TorFX as its Experts Choice Award for International Money Transfers 2017. This is the second year running that MOZO have awarded the title to TorFX; great recognition for a company who believe offer their customers the best value when making international payments to and from Australia. TorFX provide individuals and businesses with international payments as a cost saving alternative to the banks, by providing their clients with more competitive exchange rates than the more traditional means. TorFX clients can transfer money online 24/7 from anywhere in the world using their computer, tablet or smartphone. […]
Don’t write off bitcoin yet, despite blow to Winklevoss plan
It seems that bitcoin’s prophets of doom celebrated prematurely after the US Securities and Exchange Commission comprehensively knocked back the Winklevoss brothers’ bid to create an exchange-traded fund tied to the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The obituaries written over the weekend made much of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’s feud with Mark Zuckerberg over founder’s rights to Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking website. “They lost on Facebook; now they’ve lost on bitcoin,” the twins’ updated narrative said. Not so fast. Sure, the bitcoin price collapsed by 18 per cent after it had motored past the price for an ounce of gold in the week preceding the SEC’s […]
