Auswide Bank sells stake in MoneyPlace, only two years after investing in online lender
Bundaberg-based bank Auswide is offloading its 62 per cent stake in online lender MoneyPlace only two years after making an investment to “take a position” in the hi-tech sector. The bank said the sale would boost full-year results, and now was “the right time to realise our investment”. Neither the price nor a detailed rationale were revealed, and Auswide had not flagged a sale in recent results. MoneyPlace is a peer-to-peer lender whose online website offers personal loans from $5000 to $45,000 at rates starting at 7.65 per cent.In December 2015, Auswide decided to take an equity stake as well as offer funding for MoneyPlace loans. Auswide will keep funding […]
ATO creates specialist task force to tackle cryptocurrency tax evasion
The Australian Taxation Office is putting together a taskforce of tax experts, lawyers, technology specialists, bankers and financial advisers to help it identify and track cryptocurrency transactions to ensure all taxes are being paid. A top team of industry specialists will work with the tax officials to work out strategies for “following the money” involving transactions using the digital “distributed” ledgers that have no central data storage, which make it difficult to trace and track. The ATO is also believed to be also working closely with banks, Austrac, state revenue offices, which collect revenues, particularly for property transactions, and officials involved with the Black Economy Taskforce, which has been identifying […]
Ethereum price jumps again as it approaches a new all-time high
The price of cryptocurrency ethereum is closing in on a fresh all-time high during European morning trade on Tuesday as its recent rally shows no signs of stopping. Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, crossed $US1,000 per coin for the first time on Friday, and continued to gain over the weekend, surpassing $US1,200 on Monday morning, before hitting a fresh record high of $US1,261.41 at around 5.00 a.m. GMT. The cryptocurrency then dipped a little as Monday’s trade continued, but has climbed once again on Tuesday, hitting a daily high of $US1,217, a gain of roughly 7.5%. To read more, please click on the link below… Source: Ethereum […]
BTC Markets dumps BPAY minimum
Cryptocurrency investors no longer stuck with a $500 minimum trade. Australian cryptocurrency marketplace BTC Markets has eliminated its $500 minimum for deposits made through the popular BPAY platform but has dropped deposits through rival POLi for now. The firm confirmed the policy change in a tweet on Sunday. “The BPAY minimum of $500 no longer applies,” it said. There’s a sting in the tale for local investors. While the BPAY limit has been lowered, BTC Markets has stopped supporting the Australian POLi payments platform. Previously it allowed deposits through POLi, albeit with a $3.30 per transaction service charge, but that’s no longer the case. “We have suspended POLi deposits for […]
Bitcoin competitor Ripple value climbs, almost beating Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
The virtual currency boom has gotten so heated that it is throwing the list of the world’s richest people into disarray. Consider what has happened to the founders of an upstart virtual currency known as Ripple, which has seen its value skyrocket in recent weeks. At one point on Thursday, Chris Larsen, a Ripple co-founder who is also the largest holder of Ripple tokens, was worth more than $US59 billion ($75 billion), according to Forbes. That would have briefly vaulted Mr. Larsen ahead of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg into fifth place on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people. Other top Ripple holders would have also zoomed up […]
Why ICOs are the real deal
As bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market exploded in 2017, the appetite for ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) has also risen but without the same mainstream attention. At its most basic level, an ICO is a public crowd fundraising alternative to the traditional IPO (Initial Public Offering). ICOs have quickly become the choice of global visionary companies that have an audacious plan and need capital to quickly execute it. While the general consensus is that participating in ICOs should be taken with great care, which I agree with, there are many success stories in Australia and around the world that buck this notion. ICOs differ from IPOs in a number of […]
Coinspot rubbishes liquidity claims, says it is ‘getting closer’ to turning on Australian dollar deposits
Aussie cryptocurrency exchange Coinspot has described warnings of liquidity issues due to too many customers cashing out as “absolute rubbish and untrue”.
Aussie crypto exchange turns attention to new laws
BTC Markets expects delays, fine-tuning. Australian cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has warned users to expect deposit and withdrawal delays as it “fine-tunes” transaction monitoring systems to meet new legal obligations. Last month, financial regulator AUSTRAC was handed the authority to monitor local digital currency exchanges under new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML-CTF) laws. It’s the first time Australia’s digital currency sector has been regulated, and BTC Markets is the first local exchange to detail what that might mean for its operations. The company said it already verified “the identity of our users, their source of funds, and the purpose of their transactions as they occur on our platform … […]
