Author: Cristian Lipciuc

Cristian Lipciuc is a blockchain journalist working with startup companies across multiple domains such as freelancing, app development & cryptocurrency. Cristian specializes in applied blockchain technologies, cryptocurrency integration, the adoption of new technologies by governments, and cybersecurity.

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Australia Blockchain Trading

ASX Pushed By RBA And ASIC to release DLT Trading Platform As Soon As Possible

The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have requested that the Australian Stock Exchange hurry up with their new Distributed Ledger Trading platform, claiming in an official report that it was putting quite a dent in the market and hampering the finances of the Australian market.

Looking To Recoup Delays Caused By COVID-19

Back in March, a spike in trading volumes caused processing delays – underlining the need for the distributed ledger technology to be completed. Due to the possibility of far-reaching consequences by a system not thoroughly checked for issues – and also the COVID-19 pandemic – the release was initially delayed until April 2022.

Dominic Stevens, the CEO of ASX, explained that the delay was due to the expansion of the scope of the project – now looking to support up to three times as large a volume as originally planned.

“Some, including an important back-office systems provider for a substantial part of the market, expressed a preference for an extra six to nine months, which we are including in our deliberations. With the volume explosion we saw in March, we’re now looking at plans to ultimately double or triple that original volume target, which will increase go-live system capacity.”

The two regulators also touched on potential competition issues, stating that their Regulatory Expectations seek to ensure that ASX remains in touch with the needs and requests of investors.

The access to its monopoly cash equity CS services on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis with fair Terms and Conditions was also considered a priority.

Hoping to bolster the confidence of investors in what is one of the world’s leading markets already, the ASX replied that they welcome the input of ASX and ASIC, and will attempt to make the replacement for CHESS go live as soon as possible.

Categories
Blockchain Cardano Payments

Australian Developer Working To Bring Cardano To Shopify Stores

Shopify stores may soon allow users to pay using Cardano  (ADA) tokens with a new app that removes the need for any third parties in order to pay with cryptocurrency.

Jeronimo Backes – an Australian developer who has invested a fair sum in ADA and is a fan of this cryptocurrency – is working on this app voluntarily.

Removing The Third Party

Although Shopify stores can already accept payments in cryptocurrency, intermediaries – who also take their cut – are needed in order to carry out the transaction.

Backes sees Cardano as the cryptocurrency most likely to make the transition to large-scale enterprises due to its scalability.

“Unlike others, this one is the one I think is being built to last. It’s not like Ethereum, EOS, Tron, and others who are still in a proof-of-concept phase in relation to large-scale business use-cases.”

The code – available on GitHub for anyone who wants to help – will remain open-source, in a bid to help online stores integrate the new app into their systems.

Any store owners that would like to integrate the app into their ecosystem will only need to select it from the range of payment applications made available to them by the Shopify interface, Backes stated.

 Once integrated, users will be sending funds directly to the store’s private wallets – invisible to anyone except the customer and the online store.

As of 2020, Shopify provides an online store interface to over 1 million businesses operating in over 175 countries, with total gross merchandise volume exceeding US$41.1 billion during the calendar year 2018.

The new Cardano wallet will eventually support plugins, adding extra functionalities such as automatic tax calculations.

Having recently hit a snag in development that forced Backes to build a new wallet from scratch, the Cardano and Shopify integration will be delayed – but should be released before the beginning of 2021.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Crypto News Monash University

CSIRO And Monash Develop A Quantum-Proof Blockchain Protocol – The Most Efficient To Date

Researchers from CSIRO’s Data61 – the data and digital specialist arm of Australia’s national science agency, and the Monash Blockchain Technology Centre have developed the most efficient blockchain protocol worldwide.

Not only is it secure against quantum computers, but it also guarantees the privacy of its users and their transactions.

Use In Multiple Fields On The Horizon

Although the blockchain protocol seems to have originally been developed for cryptocurrencies – indeed, it has been licensed to an Aussie cryptocurrency developer known as Hcash – the new protocol can be used in a number of fields, including, but not limited to digital health, banking, finance, government services, and KYC (Know Your Customer) identity verification procedures. 

The protocol has been named MatRiCT and was developed by a team of researchers from both CSIRO and the Monash Blockchain Technology Centre. The team was led by Dr Muhammed Esgin, who took action once he saw that current blockchain technology may not be able to take flak from quantum computers.

“Quantum computing can compromise the signatures or keys used to authenticate transactions, as well as the integrity of blockchains themselves. Once this occurs, the underlying cryptocurrency could be altered, leading to theft, double-spend, or forgery, and users’ privacy may be jeopardized. Existing cryptocurrencies tend to either be quantum-safe or privacy-preserving, but for the first time our new protocol achieves both in a practical and deployable way.”

The new protocol is based on hard lattice problems –  which are quantum secure. They also introduce new particular features – one of which is the shortest quantum-secure ring signature scheme made so far, which authenticates activity and transactions using nothing but the signature itself.

Another innovation present in the MatRiCT blockchain is a zero-knowledge proof method, which masks all sensitive information pertaining to a financial transaction. MatRiCT also includes the ability to conduct audits, which the team hopes could prevent the illegal use of cryptocurrencies.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Industries

Australia Has A New AUD 800 Million Business Plan, Including Blockchain

Following the creation of blockchain work groups for various industry sectors across Australia a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled an AUD 800 million Digital Business Plan for the government to follow.

The plan includes several non-blockchain initiatives – however, many of these are for Distributed Ledger Technology systems, a technology closely associated to blockchain.

These plans include an AUD 256 million investment for a system that will provide Digital Identification, and  an AUD 420 million Business Register that will greatly simplify the current methods used.

Compliance Costs Will Be Reduced Through Blockchain

Nearly 9.7 million AUD will be set aside for two new blockchain projects targeting business compliance costs – and the unnecessary amount of funding spent to check it.

According to PM Scott Morrisson, the business plan should help small businesses by cutting costs – and by removing unnecessary regulatory barriers.

“The Plan supports Australia’s economic recovery by removing out-dated regulatory barriers, boosting the capability of small businesses and backs the uptake of technology across the economy.”

A good deal of  other fintech initiatives were outlined in the new business plan, some of which could also have ties to blockchain – although this has not yet been confirmed.

Just a few weeks ago, the Select Committee on Financial Technology (FinTech) and Regulatory Technology (RegTech) published an interim report that was positive about blockchain. A fintech lawyer told the committee that the majority if FinTech and RegTech solutions are likely to use Distributed Ledger Technology within the next ten years.

At the time, Power Ledger’s co-founder and Executive Chairman Dr. Jemma Green also highlighted that although over $26 billion had been raised through ICOs, Australia gained less than 1 percent of the profit.

By properly regulating blockchain technology and ICOs even further, Dr. Green believes that tens of thousands of new jobs will be created, which will in turn bring in even more revenue to be invested in further development.

Indeed, in the report it is speculated that the potential gain due to using blockchain technology is “estimated at $175 billion annually within five years and $3 trillion by 2030”.

With Hedera technology also being recently unveiled as a blockchain-based partner for Australian industries, the adoption of blockchain in every corner of the Australian market is advancing at a steady pace.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Cryptocurrencies

From Coins To Cryptocurrency – A Bestselling Book On The Australian Economy

On the 7th of September, a new game-changing book was released on the Amazon bookstore – namely: PAYMENTS AND BANKING IN AUSTRALIA – From Coins To Cryptocurrency, How It Started, How It Works And How It May Be Disrupted.

In this book, Nikesh Lalchandani tells the story of Australia’s economy, it’s ups and downs, and how it is permanently changing due to cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technologies.

Bestseller Status Reached

Three weeks after the day it came out, Nikesh’s book has hit the number 1 spot in the Business category of books sold on Amazon Australia.

Born in Australia from Indian heritage, Nikesh has studied engineering, computer science, finance, and IT at the University of New South Wales and Deakin. After a history of involvement with various start-up firms and successful business ventures, Nikesh worked for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where he headed departments focused on research and emerging technology that can be applied to the world of finance.

For the first time, Aussie readers have access to a comprehensive guide of the financial world, of payments and banking centered on the Australian continent.

 The book explores the history of Australian payments and banking, while also bringing ideas that could be used to improve current systems and modus operandi to streamline banking procedures. In his book, Nikesh explains how he believes blockchain technology could end up being as much of a game-changer as other projects originally started by enthusiasts – such as PayPal.

“We are on the verge of a revolution: this book provides a direction of what the future could look like and empowers the reader to make that vision a reality.”

The 508-page book is a thorough exploration of the financial mechanisms and regulation in banking and payment systems from cheques to cards and cryptocurrency.

In addition to a view at the techie side of things, the book also examines the culture and framework that have traditionally caused problems in the Australian financial sector and takes a broad look at alternatives currently available to investors.

Categories
Australia Binance Blockchain

Binance Australia Joins Forces With Blockchain Australia

This Friday, Binance Australia became a full member of Blockchain Australia, an industry body for Australian fintech businesses and professionals who advocate for blockchain technology.

Their main goal is to advance the adoption of blockchain technology in Australia, and their recent partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange market heavy hitter is a massive leap in the right direction.

Awareness Is The Name Of The Game

As part of the partnership, Binance Australia will join Blockchain Australia in their efforts – alongside other local industry experts – to increase the speed with which blockchain is adopted in every industry.

Mr. Steve Vallas – the CEO of Blockchain Australia – stated that this vital partnership with an industry leader will go a long way to build awareness and expand the revolutionary technology to markets that previously had no interest in it.

“That’s why we’re extremely excited to welcome Binance Australia on board as our newest member, bringing additional cryptocurrency expertise and international connections to our membership base.

Binance Australia shares Blockchain Australia’s vision to see an Australia that leads the world in the adoption of blockchain technology that transforms the economy and society to achieve significantly greater competitiveness, efficiency, service quality, social engagement, and employment.”

Asked for comment, Jeff Yew – the CEO of Binance Australia – stated that this partnership is the culmination of heavy efforts to partner with leading associations and companies across Australia and is expecting a long and fruitful collaboration.

Indeed, blockchain technology is predicted to generate a yearly business value of over AUD $239 billion by 2025 and – according to Senator Andrew Bragg – will generate revenue for Australia in excess of AUD $3 trillion by 2030.

Categories
Australia Crypto Exchange Cryptocurrencies

Flexepin’s Partnership with FastBitcoins Expands The Market For Crypto

Flexepin – a subdivision of Australian payment processor Novatti – has joined forces with FastBitcoins this Thursday.

The partnership between the ASX-listed Australian fintech company that specializes in prepaid vouchers and gift cards and the UK cryptocurrency vendor will allow Bitcoins to be sold in over 20,000 physical locations across Australia, Europe, Canada, and Africa.

Offering Alternative Payment Methods

Flexepin caters to users who want to make online payments without using credit or debit cards. But in addition to improving the security and privacy of online spending, Flexepin was developed to help many as many people as possible worldwide to purchase goods and services, using an alternate method of payment.

In areas where banks have formed monopolies and offer less than ideal terms of service to account holders, any alternative form of payment helps.

Although many payment providers are reluctant to accept vouchers and gift cards as payment, Flexepin and Novatti maintain that the vast majority of transactions carried out via vouchers are perfectly legitimate and do not pose a significant money laundering risk.

 In the past, people would use mobile minutes and messages as an ad-hoc way to send small amounts of money. Although this method of payment has become obsolete once the majority of people switched to subscription plans – which are getting cheaper every year – public transit networks worldwide often allow passengers to pay tickets via SMS.

Asked for comment, FastBicoins CEO Danny Brewster, expressed excitement at the prospect of opening up a vast budding market to cryptocurrencies.

“The big one for me, personally, is we can accept mobile money payments in 14 countries in Africa,” said FastBitcoins CEO Danny Brewster. “So, users in places like Kenya or Uganda can use M-Pesa or MTN Pay on their mobile phone to buy a Flexepin voucher which is then redeemed for Bitcoin via us. We charge only 4.5%. The best price equivalent on, say, Paxful, charges 40%. That’s all through this Flexepin deal.”

With a budding economic sector eager to invest in digital gold, the partnership between Paxful and Flexepin should show results before long.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Industries

Entrust And Hedera Join Forces to Secure Australian Food Quality

Australian companies have noticed that clients both foreign and domestic are willing to pay a premium for Aussie quality – and the Australian Government has invested over AUD 150,00 into blockchain technology for Australian Food and Drink industries.

Measures have been taken to prevent the continuous loss of AUD 1.7 billion yearly, out of $50 billion worldwide, according to investigative reports published by Food Innovation Australia – and now the official announcement regarding the technology to be used is here.

The transparent, immutable nature of blockchain technology would allow Australian businesses to create unforgeable digital certificates in order to protect their products and brand.

 In addition to discussing the potential use cases of blockchain technology in Australian supply chain applications, Australia’s first blockchain-based Cooperative Research Center has raised over $60 million in order to push blockchain adoption through Australian startups.

National Australian QA Blockchain Teams Up With Highly Scalable Hedera Hashgraph Technology

Entrust – Australia’s first comprehensive agricultural supply chain platform – has announced it will operate on Hedera Hashgraph, the enterprise-grade distributed ledger.

Launched last Sunday by South Australian Premier Steven Marshall, Entrust hopes to live up to its name by growing trust in the high-profile wine and dairy industries.

Entrust will allow farmers and winemakers and map the movement of primary products all the way to factories and processing plants, and from there on down the supply chain until the shop.

The tracking will be carried out through a combination of time-stamping, geolocation, and the transparent immutable storage of key events. Hedera Hashgraph offers improvements in speed and security when facing off against decentralized first-generation blockchains.

Mance Harmon – the CEO of Hedera – commended Entrust for taking the necessary steps to ensure accountability in an already thriving food industry.

“Entrust’s successful initial pilot with the wine industry, and strong early demand from other agricultural sectors, demonstrates the pent-up desire by producers and consumers to have more visibility into the provenance and lifecycle of our food and drinks.”

With this partnership, fraud in Australian agriculture will be virtually eliminated – all because of technology running on GPS-enabled smartphones and the creative thinking of innovators worldwide.

Categories
Blockchain Gaming Industries Initial Coin Offering

Flow Blockchain Poised To Change The World Of Digital Gaming Assets

Since the invention of Blockchain and its’ use in the world of payments, Blockchain technology has started taking root in every industry, with many benefits – from banking guarantees to supply chain certification, many businesses stand to benefit from the Blockchain revolution.

 Being Unique Pays Off

Customers feel safe paying more for an item if it’s authenticity is guaranteed – and this extends to in-game collectible items.

Users have been shown to spend 10-100x more on NFT assets than regular “in-game” digital assets because NFTs guarantee that the in-game item is unique and will remain with them forever. This means that NFT in-game items have a distinct value outside of the ecosystems that they were originally designed for. Someone who owns a distinct item can even pass it down as a heirloom.

Aside from the special value that a Flow NFT asset has, the Flow blockchain is highly scalable and built so that third-party developers can easily integrate Flow assets into their own applications – thereby increasing the potential value of said asset.

The team at Flow has partnered up with industry staple companies NBA, UFC, Dr. Seuss, and many more to change the way gaming companies will market their assets.

With the community sale of Flow tokens opening up, indie devs and multimillion-dollar corporations alike have the opportunity to snap up tokens for the blockchain system that brought you CryptoKitties.

If in the past gamers have felt deceived by market manipulation of in-game items, Flow’s environment paves the way for a higher level of trust from eager gamers. They’ve already gathered to discuss this new development on Discord – join the discussion and see why the decentralization of gaming assets can help dodge high Ethereum gas costs, onboarding issues for new projects, and even unscrupulous marketing teams.

If you are interested in checking in with the world-class team behind certified consumer blockchain experiences such as Dapper and NBA TopShot, they are always available on Discord or via the contact form on their page.

With an award-winning team and sound partnerships, Flow seems set to bring the blockchain world closer to the gaming world – this time without making GPU prices skyrocket.

Flow as a community token offering (ICO) going live on Coinlist find out more here >>> https://www.coinlist.co/flow.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Mining Digital Asset Mining Sydney

Aussie Mortgage Holidays Don’t Have To End – They Can Continue Through The Power Of Crypto

Many Australians who are currently paying off a mortgage for their home have more than 50% equity in their property – money that could set aside for retirement funds, new investments, or personal needs and emergencies that could arise at any minute.

NGS Crypto Can Help You Extend Your Mortgage Holiday

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused a fair amount of upheavals felt by people employed in all sectors – including the financial sector.

At the start of the pandemic, Australians were offered a 6 month mortgage holiday – with many jobs at risk, small businesses closing and so on, this measure was a breath of fresh air for anxious homeowners.

Banks are starting to contact borrowers in order to request that mortgage payments resume.

Over 900,000 loans have been put on hold since March, and half of these mortgage holidays are being examined these weeks.

262,000 of these are home loans, of which 80,000 will be assessed before the 30th of September, and 180,000 by the end of October.

Over 105,000 business loans to small and medium businesses have been deferred – and 65,000 of these will be assessed by the end of September – with the remaining loans being assessed in October.

Although most of the uncertainty regarding personal income has been dispelled, many Australians still feel a better fall-back strategy could have been a blessing.

Luckily, NGS Crypto can help you extend your mortgage holiday.

NGS Crypto – a consumer-friendly mining platform based in Sydney – also offers mortgage holiday packages to help crypto enthusiasts refinance their mortgage.

Members of NGS Crypto receive their returns daily, paid into their accounts on the platform.

Although some may choose to withdraw their earnings from the platform at the end of the month, most users prefer to withdraw weekly – a practice that can greatly reduce the amount of interest paid to the bank, when coupled with one of NGS Crypto’s Mortgage Holiday packages. If you’re looking to spruce up your budget without dealing with the hassle of traditional banking, NGS Crypto financial advisors are always available for a chat – see which of their services could increase your monthly revenue.