Financial advisers should consider bitcoin as an asset class
There is no better way to understand blockchain technology than to invest in bitcoins, a digital currency that has outperformed traditional currencies in recent years, according to an industry expert. This week the cryptocurrency broke record-highs when it started trading above USD$1680 against the US dollar. As at May this year, the total market cap of the bitcoin market has more than doubled to US$23 billion since it hit the US$10 billion mark just three years ago. Australia-born chief executive of Silicon Valley-based blockchain outfit Wyre, Michael Dunworth, said for financial advisers who are trying to figure out how the industry will affect their business, there is no better way […]
Sequoia and Gobi hunting Aussie start-ups following Airwallex round
Big name Chinese venture capital firms are hunting for Australian tech start-ups to invest in, targeting firms in the fintech, agricultural and medical technology sectors. Sequoia Capital partner Steven Ji and Gobi Partners principal Chibo Tang were in Australia last week meeting with local start-ups, venture capital firms and government ministers, with the aim of finding new businesses to back and both agreed that Chinese investors were keen to invest in asset classes outside of property in the country. “We think Australia is a good place for innovation technology and products, particularly in the fintech area,” Mr Ji told The Australian Financial Review. “There’s been a lot of technology innovations […]
This fintech let Australians use Bitcoin to pay $5 million worth of everyday bills
A Brisbane startup has allowed Australians to pay off $5 million worth of common household bills with Bitcoin. The unusually named Living Room of Satoshi has created a service that allows any bill that you can pay through the common BPay platform to be paid with Bitcoin. These include payment for utilities like telecommunications, electricity, gas, school fees, water and credit cards. The startup’s chief executive Daniel Alexiuc said that he started the venture in 2014 because of a lack of practical use for the cryptocurrency. “As the first truly international, decentralised and peer to peer currency, Bitcoin is perfectly suited to bill payments in Australia,” he said. “It also […]
Sydney robo-advisor founded by ex-UBS portfolio manager raises $3 million in series B
Sydney fintech Stockspot has secured $3 million in a series B capital raising round, the startup revealed on Thursday. Stockspot is a digital investment advisor, commonly known as a robo-advisor, and a fund manager founded by chief executive Chris Brycki, a former UBS and BlueLake Partners portfolio manager. ETF Securities founder Graham Tuckwell and Australian firm Alium Capital, which invested in HealthEngine and Nitro last month, led the $3 million round. Stockspot also revealed that H2’s Toby and Ben Heap, who were already investors, and “algorithmic trading” entrepreneur Danny Bhandari contributed to the series B. “Graham is a global exchange-traded fund (ETF) pioneer, having invented exchange traded commodities and built […]
Graham Tuckwell says active managers are threatened by ETFs
Graham Tuckwell, the Australian Rich Lister behind the world’s first gold exchange traded fund (ETF), has slammed the active funds management industry as his firm gears up for a fresh push into the Australian market. Mr Tuckwell spoke to The Australian Financial Review as he prepares to take full control of a suite of exchange traded funds launched as a joint venture with ANZ. The philanthropist and entrepreneur delivered a broadside to the hordes of stock pickers who underperformed their respective benchmarks and were handsomely paid for their services. “There are a huge amount of active managers being paid 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent for matching or even […]
Acorns’ machine-learning feature to help millennials save money
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 […]
Frenzy pushes bitcoin to all-time highs
Bitcoin’s price has soared to all-time highs over the past few days, rising above $US1300 late on Friday, then $US1400 yesterday, and even $US1500 on one major exchange, amid a surge of speculative investment across the cryptocurrency sector. Bitcoin has been struggling with a seemingly intractable internecine debate over network scaling, while similar projects have been drawing talent and investment dollars. But the price in 2017 has been generally rising, and rising sharply, amid several factors. Not all of the factors, ultimately, may turn out to be positive. At $US1400, bitcoin would be up 44 per cent for the year to date, according to the Bitcoin Price Index published by […]
