Equity crowd-funding up and running to open new investment doors
FROM gin distillers to energy-boosting mouth strips, opportunities are popping up for investors to grab stakes in start-up Australian businesses with as little as $50. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission last month licensed seven online platforms that let anyone pump money into emerging businesses, and despite a slow start there is expected to be a surge in opportunities online soon. It’s equity crowd-funding, where individuals buy shares in businesses well before they list on the stock exchange. This early-stage investment potentially delivers them the biggest profits but also carries the greatest risks. One of the seven licensed companies, Equitise, is currently raising money for Xinja, Australia’s first independent digital […]
Bitcoin finds a bottom as risk aversion grips global markets
What’s supposed to be the most volatile asset in the universe is proving to be a bastion of stability compared with wild swings and carnage in global equities this week. Bitcoin clawed its way back from the four-month low of $US5922 it touched on Tuesday, rebounding almost 45 per cent to $US8500. The S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both fell more than 5 per cent this week, wiping out gains for the year. Emerging markets stocks and currencies also plunged, while shorter maturity US Treasuries climbed as investors fled from risky assets to safe-havens. Bitcoin’s supporters are quick to extol the cryptocurrency’ virtues as an asset […]
Australians essentially are trading with one hand behind their back
The CEO of a fintech start-up has said Australian traders need to consider exposure to international markets, arguing that those who do so are “several steps ahead”. Speaking to Nest Egg, the CEO of the self-described “shop for shares”, Stake’s Matt Leibowitz, said while it always comes down to strategy, Australian investors who limit themselves to local opportunities tend to be “playing with one hand tied behind your back”. Reflecting on this week’s markets volatility, he said traders need to have the tools to be able to profit from opportunities like down-turns, whether traders predict such down-turns to be a fluctuation or a trend. “Whether you want to trade long, […]
Tether: How a cryptocurrency you’ve never heard of could tank the price of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is crashing, but you probably already knew that. However, if you haven’t spent the past few weeks desperately refreshing CoinMarketCap (or one of the other sites that tracks the value of cryptocurrencies) you may have missed a shocking drop that’s erased much of the value built up over 2017. Tether It’s still unclear exactly what’s causing the price of Bitcoin to drop so rapidly (currently hovering at around $8000, down from $21,500 a month ago). Of course, it’s no secret that the value of cryptocurrencies can be volatile, but recent reports suggest that one particular currency could be responsible for artificially driving up the price of Bitcoin, leading up […]
Local digital currency exchange Independent Reserve adds two new execs, turns to institutions
Independent Reserve, the Australian Digital Currency exchange, has added two executives to its senior management team as the company turns its attention to its growing stable of institutional and SMSF clients. Roman Stefanidi joined Independent Reserve as Chief Technology Officer in August, and Lasanka Perera as Head of Strategy in October. CEO Adrian Przelozny said the firm was now well positioned to grow as it focuses on institutional clientele. “Digital Currency has reached a level of awareness now where we’re seeing investors who have been waiting on the sidelines starting to enter the market,” he said. “Factors like the the new regulation by AUSTRAC, emerging ETFs and crypto […]
Robo-advice provider inks deal with Class
An Australian robo-advice provider is partnering with Class to enhance its investment and tax reporting facilities. Class chief executive Kevin Bungard said the new arrangement with Six Park is “another great example of an innovative fintech solution which supports investors with effective investment decision-making, providing a daily up-to-date view of investment data and detailed tax reporting.” Six Park is also partnering with SMSF administration provider Heffron so as to offer its clients an automated SMSF management platform. Six Park chief executive Patrick Garrett explained: “While there will always be a place for traditional advice, there is a huge opportunity to use technology and automation to bring professional SMSF administration and […]
Westpac invests $25m more in Uno in mortgage broking play
Westpac Banking Corp has doubled down on the digital mortgage broker Uno Home Loans, investing another $25 million to ramp up the start-up’s brand marketing and sales teams in a deal that reflects a concerted drive into the broking industry by the nation’s second-largest lender. Westpac is keen to win some share of the $2 billion-plus in annual revenue which flows to mortgage brokers, who currently advise on nearly half of the $380 billion in mortgages written each year. Westpac now owns around 81 per cent of Uno, which wants to win a 10 per cent share of the highly fragmented broking market over the next 10 years. “The broking […]
Bitcoin bubble masks the real value of virtual currencies
At the end of last week the price of bitcoin sat at just over $US9000, half its high of $US20,000 in December: that’s a huge drop in value in a short space of time; January was the virtual currency’s worst month since February 2014. The recent sharp fall in the value of bitcoin is said to have been sparked by the South Korean government’s announcement it would crack down on the trade in cryptocurrencies (there are now nearly 1500 in a market worth around $680 billion). South Korea is the world’s largest market for this trade. US regulators are increasing their scrutiny of the market, and Facebook has banned all […]
