Local digital currency exchange Independent Reserve adds two new execs, turns to institutions
Independent Reserve, the Australian Digital Currency exchange, has added two executives to its senior management team as the company turns its attention to its growing stable of institutional and SMSF clients. Roman Stefanidi joined Independent Reserve as Chief Technology Officer in August, and Lasanka Perera as Head of Strategy in October. CEO Adrian Przelozny said the firm was now well positioned to grow as it focuses on institutional clientele. “Digital Currency has reached a level of awareness now where we’re seeing investors who have been waiting on the sidelines starting to enter the market,” he said. “Factors like the the new regulation by AUSTRAC, emerging ETFs and crypto […]
Xero looks to attract global growth funds through ASX consolidation
Cloud accounting software company Xero is hoping to attract a range of new institutional investors to its share register, as it prepares to enter a new growth phase when it consolidates onto the ASX on February 5. Founder and chief executive Rod Drury told The Australian Financial Review he could see the business achieving the local status that Xero had reached in the smaller New Zealand market, where it was one of the top 10 largest listed businesses in the country. “We’re at the end of the beginning. We’ve just hit cash flow break-even, but there is still massive growth potential,” Mr Drury said. “Before you get to break-even you […]
Coinspot rubbishes liquidity claims, says it is ‘getting closer’ to turning on Australian dollar deposits
Aussie cryptocurrency exchange Coinspot has described warnings of liquidity issues due to too many customers cashing out as “absolute rubbish and untrue”.
Aussie crypto exchange turns attention to new laws
BTC Markets expects delays, fine-tuning. Australian cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has warned users to expect deposit and withdrawal delays as it “fine-tunes” transaction monitoring systems to meet new legal obligations. Last month, financial regulator AUSTRAC was handed the authority to monitor local digital currency exchanges under new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML-CTF) laws. It’s the first time Australia’s digital currency sector has been regulated, and BTC Markets is the first local exchange to detail what that might mean for its operations. The company said it already verified “the identity of our users, their source of funds, and the purpose of their transactions as they occur on our platform … […]
Aussie Bitcoin exchanges now need to register with the govt
Operators of Australian exchanges for Bitcoin and other digital currencies will now need to register with the country’s anti-money laundering agency after new legislation passed through parliament. AUSTRAC has been given the authority to monitor local cryptocurrency exchanges through the new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2017. The bill was introduced in August to combat the threat of serious financial crime, in the wake of revelations about the Commonwealth Bank’s breaches of money laundering laws. It was also spurred on by global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) findings of significant deficiencies in Australia’s anti-money laundering framework two years prior. The new law, which passed through the senate yesterday, for […]
Australia’s stock exchange is moving to a blockchain style system for trade settlements
Australia’s equity market the ASX has decided to replace its CHESS system to record changes in shareholding with distributed ledger technology found in blockchain. The global equities exchange community has been watching the ASX as it develops and tests a system to cut the cost of transactions, and make them faster and more secure. Blockchain uses computers with advanced encryption to keep track of transactions, giving confidence to both buyers and sellers. Transactions of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin are tracked used blockchain. Dominic Stevens, the ASX managing director and CEO, says the exchange has been carefully examining distributed ledger technology for almost two-and-a-half years. “We believe that using DLT (distributed ledger […]
Bitcoin speeds past $US8000 as its white-knuckle rollercoaster ride accelerates
Bitcoin’s relentless and volatile rally shows no sign of abating, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency defying growing bubble fears to hit yet another milestone. Bitcoin rose as much as 6.7 per cent to a record $US8224 ($10,898) as of 9.27am in New York. It’s been a tumultuous year for the virtual currency, with three separate slumps of more than 25 per cent all giving way to subsequent rallies. “The inflation in this thing is massive,” Luke Hickmore, a senior investment manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments in London, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “When will it collapse? Who knows. It will cause a lot of pain.” Even as many […]
Bitcoin is sliding after bitcoin gold goes live
Bitcoin is trading down 4.5% Wednesday following a split in the cryptocurrency’s blockchain network. Bitcoin gold, the new digital coin formed by the split Tuesday morning, follows the bitcoin-bitcoin cash fork in August. The project website for bitcoin gold is down following a DDoS attack, according to cryptocurrency watcher CoinDesk. The bitcoin community is split over whether forks are good or bad for bitcoin. Bitcoin, the red-hot digital currency up more than 400% this year, was trading down 4.42% Wednesday morning after the blockchain network underpinning the coin split again. As reported by cryptocurrency watcher CoinDesk, bitcoin gold officially split from the bitcoin network Wednesday morning. The new cryptocurrency is a clone of the original bitcoin blockchain, […]
