In relief rally, bitcoin jumps more than 20% from June low
Bitcoin quickly bounced back from the lows of June, amid improved sentiment about the future of the digital currency. Bitcoin traded higher Saturday near USD$2,680, up more than 20 percent from a June low of USD$2,185.96 hit Thursday that had erased gains for the month, according to CoinDesk. Worries about overexuberance in digital currencies overall and heated debate among developers about how to upgrade bitcoin’s technology weighed on its price. “A proposal was accepted to merge the two upgrade methods, making them compatible,” Brian Kelly, a CNBC contributor and founder of BKCM, which runs a digital assets strategy, said Friday. “So we have seen a relief rally on this progress.” […]
Acorns launches sustainable investment portfolio
The Australian micro-investing app today launches its socially responsible Emerald Portfolio following feedback from millennial customers. Micro-investing app Acorns today launches the Emerald Portfolio – an investment option designed to meet environmental, social and corporate governance standards. The app allows Australians to invest their small change, by rounding-up their everyday purchases and putting that money towards one of six investment portfolio options. The new socially driven portfolio option is a result of continued customer feedback, with strong customer demand for an investment option that aligns with their personal values. Acorns says this feedback has largely been driven by millennials, who have been quick to take up the micro-investing app since […]
Inside the multibillion dollar battle for Millennials’ super
Something hilarious has been appearing in the Facebook feeds of thousands of millennial-aged Australians lately. In a video, “Clancy Overall” and “Errol Parker”, two characters from “Australia’s oldest newspaper” the satirical site The Betoota Advocate, talk up “some financial start-up from down south” that allows you to “grab your superannuation by the balls” and invest in things such as “greenie bullsh-t”. The company they were plugging, Grow Super, is the latest participant in the most fascinating battle unfolding in Australia’s $2.3 trillion retirement industry: the fight for control of the Millennial generation’s wealth. Its rivals include Spaceship, the tech-focused super product backed by a string of start-up luminaries including Atlassian’s […]
Bitcoin price crosses USD$3,000 milestone to set new all-time high
The price of bitcoin topped USD$3,000 for the first time in history today, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). After spending much of the last week seeking direction in the $2,700 to $2,900-range, the average price of bitcoin across major international exchanges edged up over this threshold finally at roughly 17:00 UTC. The new record comes at a time when alternative digital assets are seeing robust inflows, with ethereum’s ether token setting a new all-time high of more than USD$300 today as well. Indeed, analysts spoke to the ongoing broadening of the cryptocurrency market as a tide that is benefitting bitcoin. “The inflows into ‘alts’ are greater than […]
Robo-advice finds market in digital-savvy older investors
Hey robo-advisers … You’re looking the wrong way! Millennials have no spare money and don’t care about investing just yet — but older Australian investors are more than ready to play. One survey after another in the US shows older investors are actually super keen to examine low-cost digital-based financial services. And closer to home, it’s worth pointing out that a recent survey from the SMSF Association revealed a higher portion of Australia’s one million SMSF operators were willing to try robo-advice than the general public. No doubt this emerging reality has not been lost on the kingpins of Australian finance — the banks. Earlier this week, NAB funds management […]
Global startup crowdfunding platform OurCrowd expands to India, Australia
OurCrowd, an equity crowdfunding platform that allows investors to invest in private companies, announced that it was expanding into some of the world’s largest markets this week. The company formally announced the launch of strategic partnerships with Reliance Private Client, a major wealth management firm based in India, and the National Australia Bank. The partnerships allow clients of both firms to access venture capital funding from investors on the OurCrowd platform from around the world. OurCrowd’s goal with the expansions is to diversify the asset classes available to global investors, said CEO Jon Medved in a press release. Medved noted in the release that India alone saw its number of […]
Open banking start-up Basiq snares funding from Westpac and NAB
The venture capital funds of Westpac Banking Corp and National Australia Bank have co-invested in Basiq, a start-up that scrapes financial data from bank webpages to help fintechs compete with incumbent banks. Taking advantages of the government’s moves to create an economy where data moves more openly, it plans to morph into a new banking platform that uses “application programming interfaces” (APIs, or software connecting computers) to improve customer experience of financial services. The seed investment by Reinventure Group, Westpac’s venture capital fund, and NAB Ventures comes after Treasurer Scott Morrison said in last month’s budget an “open banking” regime would be created, liberating customer banking data. The Productivity Commission, […]
Bitcoin and Ethereum are hitting record highs
Bitcoin just surged to a new record above $US2,800. It tops the previous high of $US2,799, with the cryptocurrency reaching a peak earlier today of $US2,854.40. A short time ago, Bitcoin was trading at $US2,800.20, a gain of just over 4%. The latest surge shows that speculation in the market shows no signs of abating, after prices for Bitcoin dipped back below $US2,000 at the end of May. Prices for the world’s second largest cryptocurrency ethereum have also ripped higher, a short time ago up more than 5% to $US256.16. To read more, please click on the link below… Source: Bitcoin and Ethereum are hitting record highs | Business […]
