PlayChip digital currency exchange “PlayXchange” registered
The PlayChip Foundation has been registered as the first digital currency exchange in Australia with its own native token. Last week the PlayChip Foundation Ltd was registered to provide Digital Currency Exchange services by Australian regulatory body AUSTRAC. AUSTRAC, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, is Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulator and financial intelligence unit. The registration is pursuant to subsection 76E(2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2017 (AML/CTF Act Amendment Act 2017). The registration signals a huge step forward to the Foundation, which will operate a cryptocurrency exchange called the PlayXchange as part of a global payment solution to its more than […]
ANZ bank launches phone wallet to withdraw cash from ATMs
The days of carrying a plastic bank card could be numbered, with ANZ customers now being offered the option of ditching their wallet for an all-digital profile. The bank’s latest innovation is technology allowing consumers to use a smartphone or watch to withdraw their cash from an ATM. The move means all ATM functions can now be completed without a card, and follows the widespread use of devices to process payments and purchases. “It is more secure than plastic cards because customers have to either use their face ID, or thumbprint or pin on their phone before they can even use cash, and take the cash out at the ATM,” […]
Commonwealth Bank adds Visa to digital wallets across Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit and more
After a long wait, Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has today announced they’ve added Visa support across their Digital Wallet solutions. The support for using Visa credit cards and business debit cards comes after Commonwealth Bank saw a large increase in the use of Tap & Pay. The bank saw an increase of 35 per cent to 16.8 million transactions from 5 million Commbank App users over the past six months. It’s not just the Commbank App which gains Tap & Pay support for Visa, with the bank also adding support in Visa to Samsung Pay and Google Pay as well as for customers using fitness watches from Fitbit and Garmin using […]
Cash costs Aussie SMBs big time
A national study, commissioned by payments company Square, has revealed that Australian small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are wasting an average of 216 hours (around 29 working days) each year counting and banking cash — that’s a minimum cost of $8.7 billion in annual wages for the SMB sector. Square’s research points to a growing attitude shift among the majority of Aussie SMBs (60%) who agree that the key motivator for transitioning to cashless is to reduce time waste for staff, in addition to customer preference and the security risks with storing cash on-site. Nathan Dalah, co-founder and managing director at Sydney-based Fishbowl, took his popular sashimi salad bar chain […]
Fintech payments startup Zip just closed a deal with Target Australia
Shares in Zip Co, the owner of zipPay, zipMoney and Pocketbook brands, jumped after the fintech announced a deal with Target Australia. A short time ago, the shares were up 5.8% to $1.09.The company announced a partnership with Target, owned by Wesfarmers, to offer Zip interest-free payments to customers in its 303 stores. Zip CEO and Managing Director Larry Diamond says Zip will be Target’s first in-store alternative payments offering. “We believe Zip will be a great fit for Target, providing their customers with a better way to pay,” he says. To read more, please click on the link below…. Source: Fintech payments startup Zip just closed a deal […]
Peppermint’s Bizmoto now remitting to India
Peppermint Innovation Limited announced its international remittance business, Bizmoto, had ‘opened’ up a transfer corridor to India, the second largest global remittance market for Australia in 2017. The activation means people living in Australia can now use Bizmoto’s online portal at www.bizmoto.com.au to send money to their family, friends or relatives in India. Bizmoto will earn revenue by collecting a transaction fee on every money transfer. According to the latest World Bank figures*, Australians transferred USD$1.944 billion to India in 2017 – ranking only second to China (USD$2.922B) as the largest global remittance market for Australia. Vietnam (USD$1.182B) ranked as the third largest global remittance market for Australians, with the […]
China and Australia deepen blockchain links
A group of Australian blockchain start-ups, including Beam and AgriDigital, are in Shanghai this week, on a trade mission organised by Austrade and the Australian Digital Commerce Association. Over the weekend, the entrepreneurs completed a boot camp run by members of the embassy, including a session on how to protect their intellectual property. On Monday, they visited several of China’s largest fintech companies, including $US150 billion-valued ($211 billion) Ant Financial’s Shanghai headquarters in the city’s Pudong district. China’s fintech market towers over all others. Ant operates the world’s largest online and mobile payments platform – with 520 million users. It has also been investing in blockchain, devoting part of its […]
Half of millennials say cryptocurrency will soon be widely used
Millennials are keen on bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, according to a recent YouGov survey. 44% of millennials (just under half) say they think it will be “somewhat” or “very” widely accepted in the next 10 years. The survey also found that bitcoin enjoys fairly incredible brand recognition, with 74% of men and 68% of women respondents saying they’d heard of it. Nothing else came close, with only 19% of men and 6% of women saying they’d heard of Ethereum, making it the second most widely-known cryptocurrency. Curiously, 79% of respondents said that they were familiar with at least one type of cryptocurrency, suggesting that there’s a reasonable number of […]
