This Australian fintech leader says cryptos won’t replace traditional currencies in ‘another three lifetimes’
The value of bitcoin lies in its use as a finite commodity protected by rock-solid cryptography, rather than a currency used to buy goods and services, according to Loretta Joseph, chair of the Australian Digital Commerce Association (ADCA). Joseph spoke to Business Insider following reports that Australian crypto trading exchanges must now comply with standards set out by financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC. The announcement followed an 18-month consultation period between AUSTRAC and the ADCA.“We have defined crypto as a commodity,” Joseph said. “It’s not a currency for use as a means of exchange.” “There was recently a key legal case in New York which defined bitcoin as a commodity. So […]
Aussie cryptocurrency exchange to trial BPAY’s Osko
Cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets is trialling BPAY’s Osko service as a way to speed up conventional fiat deposits from customers. The company said it would support Osko, which runs as an overlay on Australia’s new payments platform (NPP), which went live in mid-February. The billion-dollar NPP allows banks to send payment messages in real time to each other via the Reserve Bank. In a brief statement, BTC Markets said it would trial Osko for deposits only, but that it expected the service to also support withdrawals within a few months. Osko presents an opportunity for cryptocurrency exchanges to support much faster deposits of fiat currency into their ecosystems, which can […]
BPAY Group develops BPAY BatchMaker and partners with QuickBooks
BPAY Group, Australia’s leading payments provider, has announced its latest innovation, BPAY BatchMaker, a product helping small businesses to pay multiple suppliers at the same time. As part of BPAY Group’s growing portfolio of developing innovative products for the Australian market that solve customer pain points, BPAY BatchMaker helps makes it easier for small businesses to pay multiple bills and create efficiencies by reducing manual processing. BPAY BatchMaker’s first partner is QuickBooks, the global leader in cloud accounting, with 2.8 million subscribers worldwide. The BPAY BatchMaker app is now available to QuickBooks customers, free of charge*, via the QuickBooks app store. The new application is an easy and convenient way […]
New Pelikin app fits the bill for globetrotting millennials
Digital banking start-up Pelikin aims to reshape the way people save, send and spend their money in Australia and while travelling abroad. The company’s slogan is “spend like a local”. It will be targeting “digital natives” with its app and debit card. It hopes to launch by mid-2018 and is currently seeking expressions of interest for investment on Birchal, an Australian equity crowdfunding platform. “Acting as a transactional base for funds, Pelikin wants to create a seamless digital experience between everyday banking and travel banking; an important element for a younger market who are known for their tech-savvy and globetrotting lifestyle,” the company explains. It is currently beta testing features […]
Westpac strikes deal with Assembly Payments
Westpac Banking Corp has bought an equity stake in Assembly Payments and will work with the Melbourne-based fintech to integrate the bank’s merchant terminals with customers’ point-of-sale (POS) software, removing the need for transaction amounts to be entered into retailers’ systems twice. For workers in the nation’s restaurants and coffee shops, entering the dollar amount of a transaction into a banking terminal to complete a sale might be a small frustration, but the extra process can add up to real dollars for business owners. Westpac estimates that for a typical Sydney CBD cafe – which completes between 1000 and 1500 transactions a day – the three to five seconds of […]
On The Money: Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay explained
Over the last ten years, smartphones have replaced MP3 players, PDAs, cameras and – for some – even dedicated portable computing devices like laptops. Now, smartphone and wearable vendors are trying to replace your wallet by cementing themselves as a crucial part of the mobile payments space. If you’re confused about things like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay – here’s everything you need to know. What are mobile payments services? Mobile Payment services (also known as mobile payment platforms or digital wallets) is a term that refers services or apps that allow you to pay for things with your phone or smartwatch (via a connected credit or debit card). The […]
‘I’m not a silly investor’: SMEs accepting cryptocurrency as payment
When Robert Tadros was asked by a client last year if he would accept cryptocurrency as payment, he was “quite taken aback”. Being a believer in blockchain technology and a crypto-investor himself, the founder of search and social agency Impress!ve Digital was open to the request. “It’s an online store that the client operates. He was paying for his stock in cryptocurrency. So I embraced the idea.” Cryptocurrency client base increases In 12 months, Impress!ve, has grown 500 per cent from $600,000 to $3.5 million in annual revenue. Tadros attributes this growth to pivoting from a being a generalist agency to specialising in SEO, SEM and Facebook advertising. Three of […]
Sydney Angels funds QPay $570k to steal millennial students from banks
Australia’s first ever student marketplace app, QPay, has raised $570,000 from a series of high profile investors, including Sydney Angels and the Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund 2, to break into student banking through the release of a student-targeted QPay MasterCard. QPay aims to use the QPay MasterCard to capture the largest cluster of millennial consumers at the point when they’re most likely to begin making serious financial decisions – when enrolled in tertiary education. “University is the time when life decisions start to become quite future-focussed, especially regarding our finances,” said Andrew Clapham, Co-Founder of QPay. “We might be weighing up the amount of student debt we can responsibly accrue, […]
