What’s the difference between a private and public blockchain?
Blockchain has potential applications in many industries, from accounting to agriculture. It’s essentially a distributed ledger, which records transactions between every user in the chain. There are different types of blockchain: some are open and public and some are private and only accessible to people who are given permission to use them. A public blockchain is an open network. Anyone can download the protocol and read, write or participate in the network. A public blockchain is distributed and decentralised. Transactions are recorded as blocks and linked together to form a chain. Each new block must be timestamped and validated by all the computers connected to the network, known as nodes, […]
Peppermint signs agreement with Philippines’ electronic payment service provider, ECPay
ASX-listed Peppermint Innovation Limited announced it had signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Electronic Commerce Payments, Inc. (“ECPay”), a leading electronic payment service provider in the Philippines. Under the agreement, customers can use Peppermint’s Bizmoto website (www.bizmoto.com.au) to directly pay a variety of bills for their family and friends living in the Philippines, such as power and water, mobile phones and the internet. They can also directly top-up credit cards and debit cards for their family and friends, as well as paying insurance premiums or loan and finance repayments. The direct payment of bills and purchase of e-Loads is viewed favourably by some payees who are reluctant to transfer cash […]
Xero State of Lending Report: Funding gap is stifling small business growth in Australia
Research unveiled today by Xero suggests Australia’s small businesses could borrow as much as $80 billion over the next 12 months, if they could get the funding. Instead, small businesses are struggling to access the capital they require, in large part due to the complexity of the loan process. This is creating a funding gap and holding back significant jobs and growth opportunities for the Australian economy. According to the Xero State of Lending Report, one in five small business owners (22%) say access to capital is the greatest pain point or perceived threat to their long-term growth aspirations, and a quarter of small business are not very confident in […]
NAB Ventures secures another $50 million to invest in fintech startups: Here’s what the fund is looking for
Australian big-four bank NAB has allocated another $50 million to its corporate venture capital fund NAB Ventures, doubling the funds available to bring the total to $100 million. The fund was launched in 2016 with an initial $50 million to invest over three years. It has backed 12 businesses to date, including property investment startup BrickX, real estate communications platform ActivePipe, and data sharing startup Data Republic. It has also made investments overseas into startups in San Francisco and Toronto. NAB Ventures general partner Melissa Widner tells StartupSmart the doubling up of the funds represents an endorsement of the program from the bank. “The board liked the innovation it was […]
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 […]
“It takes an army”: Co-founder of pocket money app Spriggy Alex Badran on growth, getting some perspective, and securing backing from Mike Cannon-Brookes
Pocket money app startup Spriggy has seen a 380% increase in its customer base, quadrupled its headcount, and secured funding from Atlassian co-founder and Australian startup legend Mike Cannon-Brookes — and that’s all in the past 12 months. Founded in 2015 by Alex Badran and Mario Hasanakos with an initial $300,000 investment, Spriggy provides a mobile app that allows parents to give their children pocket money digitally, by loading cash onto a prepaid card for the children to use. The app also allows kids to monitor their spending, in a bid to teach them good money management skills. The startup was named as an emerging fintech star in the KPMG Fintech […]
Understanding Australia’s fintech ecosystem
Bankers today know that most fintech companies aren’t out there to take away a share of the market. Instead, their raison d’être is to create disruptive solutions that banks can leverage in order to deliver on customer expectations and improve customer experiences. In Australia, the fintech ecosystem has been burgeoning for a few years now, and Sydney and Melbourne have emerged as the two hubs that fintech companies embrace. According to a KPMG study, jointly Sydney and Melbourne account for 75 percent of all VC investment nationally. Further, the study found that the state of New South Wales leads the way in terms of fintech companies with 61 percent of […]
Top reward credit cards for Apple, Samsung, Google, Fitbit, Garmin Pay
Whether you’re an Apple or Android smartphone user or prefer Apple, Fitbit or Garmin smartwatches, chances are you already have access to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay and/or Garmin Pay – all of which can be your ticket to earning valuable frequent flyer points with just one tap. For example, you might have an iPhone – compatible with Apple Pay – and can use that to pay for purchases in-store and online using your points-earning credit card. At the same time, a Fitbit Ionic or Versa smartwatch – both of which work with Fitbit Pay – might come in handy for making small purchases after your workout, […]
