Westpac joins Swift blockchain test
Second Aussie bank after ANZ to take part. Westpac has become the second Australian bank to join a proof-of-concept by payment messaging service Swift that aims to test blockchain for facilitating cross-border payments. It is one of 22 global banks to join the PoC today, adding to the six foundational banking participants, one of which is ANZ Bank. It was always envisaged that a number of other banks would join the project to further validate the concept. The project aims to prove whether or not banks can reconcile their international nostro accounts in real-time using blockchain technology. Nostro accounts are those held by banks in other countries in the local […]
440,000 transactions per second with Red Belly Blockchain
The University of Sydney has recently announced that it has developed a new Blockchain-based system that can perform more than 440,000 transactions per second. Researchers from the School of Information Technologies at the University of Sydney, who developed the new Blockchain, named this system after one of Australia’s most deadly snakes – Red Belly Blockchain, and claim that it has a game-changing potential for the financial transfers industry. Moreover, according to them, the Red Belly Blockchain allows for the exchange to occur in a peer-to-peer fashion, as well as in a commercial environment restricted to certain users, which makes it the first blockchain being built to work both in public […]
Cross-border digital payments company InstaReM receives US$13m investment
The latest round of investment brings the total amount raised to over US$18M from a consortium of some of the largest funds in the region. InstaReM, one of the leading digital cross-border payments companies, has received a US$13 million investment led by GSR Ventures, with participation from SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund (SBI-FMO Fund), Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH), and Global Founders Capital (GFC). To date, InstaReM has raised over US$18 million in the last 18 months. InstaReM, who lists Australia as its biggest market, will use the investment to build its global payment infrastructure, which has grown eight times in volume since its March 2016 funding. The […]
Re-listed fintech hopeful comes back to the market after merger
ASX investors reacted positively when the newly minted post-merger Afterpay Touch Group hit the ASX boards last Thursday, pushing the stock 8 per cent higher on its first trading day. The listing is a result of the combination of two digital payment companies: Afterpay and Touchcorp. Australia has a long way to go to catch up to its global counterparts when it comes to technology and innovation. According to a 2015 study on global innovation Australia ranked 17th in the world, well behind the US, Germany or the UK. More importantly, “the lucky country” also lagged regional counterparts Singapore, South Korea and our neighbour New Zealand. Despite its impact, information […]
Super-fast, safe blockchain technology being developed at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney researchers are building a new super-fast, safe blockchain technology that has the potential to revolutionise the global economy. Best known as the technology that underpins Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is a digital public ledger where transactions are recorded and confirmed pseudonymously. Named the ‘Red Belly Blockchain’, the new system being developed by the University of Sydney’s School of Information Technologies will allow secure and almost instantaneous digital transfer of virtual currencies across the world. “In recent testing, our blockchain achieved the best performance we have seen so far – with more than 440,000 transactions per second on 100 machines. In comparison, VISA’s network has a […]
Double Gold for Tyro at Tech Design Awards
Australia’s leading independent payments provider, Tyro Payments, has taken out a double Gold win for its App at the recent DRIVENxDESIGN 2017 Tech Design Awards for the FinTech and Future of Work categories. The Tyro App offers an integrated solution for small business owners to manage all of their finances – connecting them with their accountants, staff, bookkeepers, employees and other signatories. Other key features include automated batch and payroll payments and the ability to monitor EFTPOS transactions easily. From the App, business owners can also access Tyro Smart Growth Funding to access and organise business loans. Tyro’s Director of Product, Kareem Al-Bassam said Tyro is listening to the needs […]
The truth about blockchains
Blockchain is the new ‘hotness’ in the innovation world, but like all new technologies, it is widely misunderstood. A blockchain is a set of difficult mathematical computations, based on cryptography. Participants in the chain provide transactions to it. Some participants perform the maths of encoding those transactions into the chain. This happens at a regular interval. Once encoded into the chain, each transaction is public and permanent. Bitcoin, which is the poster child for the technology, is a blockchain used as a currency. It relies on ‘miners’, or the participants who encode the transactions into the chain. These miners get rewarded with a newly created bitcoin each time they do […]
Australians embrace FinTech as adoption rates double in just 18 months
Digitally active Australian consumers are embracing FinTech at a rapid pace, with Australia now ranked fifth highest in FinTech adoption among 20 markets surveyed globally, according to the latest EY FinTech Adoption Index. China has the highest level of FinTech adoption globally at 69%, followed by India (52%), the UK (42%) and Brazil (40%), with Australia (37%) rounding out the top five. The study, based on 22,000 online interviews with digitally active consumers across 20 markets, including Australia, shows that FinTech services are poised for mainstream adoption on a global scale with an average of one in every three (33%) digitally active consumers now using FinTech. EY FinTech spokesperson, Rowan […]
