Brisbane, Queensland, May 3, 2022 –Binance Australia, the world’s first digital currency exchange to commence reporting on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics under a universal framework developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), provides an update on its progress and initiatives from the first quarter.
Binance Australia is a fully compliant and progressive Australian fintech brand that empowers customers and corporate institutions to access alternative, low-cost digital assets and products. We are pleased to lead the Australian digital asset industry by making digital investing easy and accessible, while also educating Australians and fostering credibility, transparency, and accountability. We are on a mission to make a positive impact on society by helping Australians achieve greater financial freedom and addressing important factors facing humanity, including ESG.
The highlights of our first update cover a wide array of initiatives, including the continued tree-planting initiatives with the Koala Clancy Foundation, a series of educational activities focused on protecting customers from online scams, as well as the continued growth of our diverse and inclusive team.
The Binance Charity Foundation (Binance.Charity) was pleased to see the continued partnership with the Koala Clancy Foundation (KCF) and in addition to the direct donation we were excited to see that KCF also received crypto donations outside of Binance. “Thanks for opening our eyes to this world,” Janine Duffy, CEO of Koala Clancy Foundation, said.
The Binance Australia team has continued to grow in size and after a number of recent key hires is pleased to report a gender diversity ratio of over 40 percent.
Binance Australia further focused on governance activities during the period, strengthening corporate governance through board skills matrix, risk management and stakeholder mapping. The team was pleased to implement a BNB trading tracking process to support governance and compliance within the organisation.
Binance Australia continues to seek additional partnerships to broaden our positive impact in Australia from digital assets and looks forward to announcing further details in due course.
Binance Australia also makes the following additional disclosures with respect to environmental metrics:
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions (PL-01-A)
Currently, the company operates remotely with three shared office spaces in WA, QLD and SA, and emissions of its corporate offices are minimal. The company does not currently operate any heavy equipment, motor vehicles or other emissions-producing equipment.
Land use and ecological sensitivity (PL-02)
Due to the nature of the company’s operations, this is not a material area and therefore disclosures are not required.
Water consumption (PL-03)
Due to the nature of the company’s operations, this is not a material area and therefore disclosures are not required.
Socialsuite’s ESG Go reporting technology provides an easy way for investors and other stakeholders to assess the commitment and progress of the company on its journey to create “best in class” ESG credentials and outcomes. To follow the company’s progress towards its ESG objectives, please refer to our ESG Dashboard.
An Australian company has developed a world-first platform to enable people to use cryptocurrency for everything from buying a cup of coffee to purchasing a home.
The Digital Currency Reserve (TDCR) aims to see cryptocurrency used widely throughout the world for everyday transactions as easily as credit cards are used today, while giving consumers and businesses the same privacy laws and consumer protections they demand from traditional financial services.
The high-powered team behind the technology includes former Federal Communications Minister and Senator, Stephen Conroy.
Our goal is to expand cryptocurrency access to more businesses, stores and services, allowing TDCR members to avoid having to convert back into fiat currency.
TDCR founder John Fenga
TDCR aims to connect customers, businesses and utilities on the same network to enable people to make purchases in cryptocurrency without having to first convert into “fiat currency” (i.e. government issued legal tender, such as the Australian dollar).
By eliminating conversion, which can take minutes or days, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and consistency.
TDCR also enables members to convert their crypto to fiat at any time, even at the point of purchase.
Mr Fenga said TDCR’s platform was not just for consumers. “With built-in merchant solutions, business owners can transact with consumers and suppliers in cryptocurrency without unnecessary conversions,” he said. “This way, for consumers wanting to buy a coffee with their bitcoin, a cafe can accept it for its actual cost and not an inflated amount.
TDCR makes using cryptocurrency as easy as using your VISA or Mastercard.”
While there are other technology platforms that deal in cryptocurrency, TDCR differs in that it is a hybrid of both centralised and decentralised networks – similar to current banking systems – which will make it easier for governments to adopt.
“Our goal for future releases is to enable our members to buy a property with crypto, finance it with crypto, and service it with crypto, all inside the TDCR ecosystem,” Mr Fenga said.
“We want to provide our members with bank-like tools and services, because the platform was based on banking technology.”
Retail statistics show, for merchant early-adopters of cryptocurrency payments, 40% of crypto users are new customers to their business leading to more than 300% return on investment.
“There are more than 300 million cryptocurrency investors around the world yet only about 18,000 establishments – globally – accept the currency as payment,” Mr Fenga said.
“In Australia alone, about one million people have some form of cryptocurrency but can’t use it for day-to-day transactions.”
TDCR operates in an open and accountable way – bringing cryptocurrencies out of the dark web and into the light, where both customers and governments can have confidence in the transactions. TDCR’s platform enables it to regulate and monitor all transactions and report any suspicious activity, just like a bank.
Mr Fenga said the platform was secure because, in its simplest terms, it saved the actual currency and created a duplicate for transactions. If that duplicate is stolen, it is promptly deleted.
“TDCR can monitor these duplicated “coins” because it is the issuer, acquirer, and processor throughout the entire transaction,” Mr Fenga said.
The team behind TDCR have an enormous depth and breadth of experience across a range of industries and sectors – with an investment, or interest, in cryptocurrency as a common denominator.
Mr Fenga has 20 years of experience in disruptive industries (innovations that shake up established markets or create new markets), particularly financial technology.
Jeffrey Cole, director of The Centre of Digital Future at USC Annenberg, is an international expert in digital technology who has advised world political and business leaders and was one of the founders of the Australian-based Global Disruption Fund, which identifies and invests in emerging disruptive innovations.
Marketing expert and co-founder Steve Lewis has 25 years in brand marketing and communications, while Mr Conroy is a former federal minister and John Markos is a former lawyer turned management consultant.
“The concept was born out of all of us making small crypto investments but having no ability to transact in the ‘currency’,” Mr Lewis said.
“Yes, we could send it to each other, and lose a lot in the process, but we had no ability to spend in real, legitimate terms.”
TDCR is currently trying to raise up to $5 million in capital to complete its build and with plans to launch a pilot by the end of the year.
Brisbane-based digital asset platformCoinstash steps into a new cryptocurrency era with the launch of Coinstash Earn, an innovative way for Australians to earn a passive income minus the hassle of trading.
Coinstash is on a mission to enable everyday Aussies to uncover the true potential of digital and real-world capital with a secure and trusted digital asset platform that allows people to use their cryptocurrencies like traditional currency and physical assets.
Since launching the platform in 2019, Coinstash founders Ting Wang and Mena Theodorou have helped thousands of Australians buy, sell and exchange more than 340 different cryptocurrencies via a simple user interface.
“Our vision is to financially empower Australians by bridging the gap between traditional finance and digital assets, by becoming the trusted local gateway to access the world of crypto with a few simple clicks of a button,” Mr Wang said.
The industry-leading enterprise has now introduced Coinstash Earn, an Australian-first crypto product that allows investors to earn daily rewards of up to 18.0% per annum* when they deposit their crypto holdings for a fixed period.
Coinstash EARN allows customers to earn a rate of return on both stakeable and non-stakeable cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD stablecoins and xAUD, a stablecoin tied to the value of the Australian dollar, credited weekly to their accounts.
With Coinstash Earn, investors can receive impressive annual returns of 4.20% on their digital Australian dollars (AUD), compared to an average of less than 1% at the ‘Big Four’ banks.
“Investing takes time and effort, so Coinstash Earn does the hard work for you,” Mr Theodorou said.
“Earn is a critical launch for Coinstash on our way to becoming a bank of the future that allows our customers to skip the steep crypto learning curve and make a passive income without needing to master the very challenging task of timing the market,” Mr Wang said.
H.E. Justin Sun, founder of TRON, announced today in an open letter on Twitter that an all-new stablecoin is launching on the TRON blockchain, USDD (or Decentralised USD), marking its official entry into the field of decentralised stablecoins.
TRON DAO will partner with other blockchain industry leaders to establish USDD. It will leverage the power of mathematics and algorithms to achieve the overarching goal of financial freedom for all. In another open letter, Sun mentioned that a TRON DAO Reserve would be established to ensure the sustainable development of USDD.
At the start, USDD will be issued as a TRC token on the TRON network. The TRON DAO Reserve will serve as a transparent mechanism to manage the reserves backing the USDD.
USDD will not rely on any centralised institutions for redemption, management, and storage. Instead, it will achieve full on-chain decentralisation. USDD will be pegged to the underlying asset, TRX, and issued in a decentralised manner.
When USDD’s price is lower than 1 USD, users and arbitrageurs can send 1 USDD to the system and receive 1 USD worth of TRX. When USDD’s price is higher than 1 USD, users and arbitrageurs can send 1 USD worth of TRX to the decentralised system and receive 1 USDD. Regardless of market volatility, the USDD protocol will keep USDD stable at 1:1 against the US dollar via proper algorithms in a decentralised manner.
Taken together, this decentralised currency protocol with a stable price will significantly expand use cases of crypto, making it truly accessible with far-reaching implications for the blockchain space and the real economy.
After four years of growth, TRON has seen over 87 million on-chain users and 3 billion transactions in its ecosystem. The circulating supply of TRC-20 USDT has exceeded that of ERC-20 USDT, standing at US$41 billion, making TRON the world’s largest stablecoin network. It boasts over US$55 billion worth of financial assets, including on-chain stablecoins, and has settled and cleared total financial assets of over US$4 trillion. In December 2021, the TRON network became fully decentralised and was restructured into the TRON DAO, the world’s largest decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO).
Around that same time, Sun was officially appointed by the government of Grenada as its Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO. Since then, Sun has been actively representing Grenada at different WTO meetings. During his mandate, Sun said that he would proactively promote the integration of cryptocurrencies and sovereign states to build a stronger financial infrastructure that is secure, efficient, and inclusive. Sun has also expressed that he will continue to leverage his experience in digital currency for a joint response to the new challenges facing digital transformation in the post-pandemic era.
USDD on TRON marks a small step for developing TRON-based stablecoins and yet a giant leap for mankind in pursuing the ultimate financial freedom.
People should enjoy more than the four freedoms that Franklin Roosevelt once proposed – freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. They should also be entitled to freedom of finance, freedom of wealth, and freedom to protect their private properties.
The end goal is to make equitable access to financial services a fundamental human right. In time, financial services will become a necessity like water and air, accessible to people worldwide.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – April 19, 2022: Social investing network eToro has today launched the findings of a new national survey which reveals, contrary to popular belief, that Millennials (26-41-year-olds) and Generation Zs (18-25-year-olds) are leading the charge when it comes to managing and investing in self-managed super funds (SMSFs). Among the findings are:
Millennials and Zoomers are just as likely as Boomers to invest in self-managed super funds, according to new eToro data.
Distrust of super funds, plus the foresight to plan for the future, is driving a new trend of young, empowered investors, most of whom are tipping up to $10K p.a. into SMSFs.
Tech stocks and crypto are preferred over property, while CFDs, options and FX take a back seat.
The survey of 1,000 Aussies commissioned by eToro found almost half of people under 35 (47 per cent) have an SMSF. The trend is relatively new with the majority of respondents (67 per cent) indicating they have been building their fund for just 1-5 years.
More broadly, the data showed superannuation is important for 90 per cent of people under 35.
SMSFs are on the rise, with Zoomers just as likely as Boomers to self-manage, and Millennials contributing more cash annually.
Self-managing is particularly on the rise among Gen Z with 86 per cent of those who have an SMSF, noting they created it within the past five years. Zoomers are just as likely (45 per cent) to have an SMSF as their Baby Boomer counterparts approaching retirement.
Young people indicated the desire to take more control of their investments, with a third (33 per cent) believing they can get a better average return managing their own super than with a traditional superannuation fund. They also say they’re keen to invest in the future (37 per cent) as well as prepare nest eggs for retirement (40 per cent).
The research revealed at least one-third of Millennials contribute between $5,000 – $10,000 annually to their SMSF (36 per cent), while half of Gen Z investors contribute $1,000 – $5,000 per annum (50 per cent). Just 16 per cent of people under 35 will contribute over $10,000 to their fund.
Young people are more likely to invest in stocks and crypto over property, with tech stocks the top SMSF investment.
The data indicated a large majority of Millennials and Gen Zs with an SMSF are focused on generating a diversified SMSF portfolio (84 per cent Millennials, 75 per cent Gen Z), filled predominantly with stocks (60 per cent Millennials, 72 per cent Gen Z), crypto (43 per cent Millennials, 64 per cent Gen Z), and property (41 per cent Millennials, 50 per cent Gen Z). By contrast, more than half (54 per cent) of respondents aged over 45 have at least one property in their SMSF.
Of Millennials invested in stocks, 45 per cent prefer the ASX market and 32 per cent opt for US markets, while the opposite is true for Gen Zs, who favour US markets (47 per cent) over the ASX (29 per cent).
Tech, energy, real estate and financial were the industries of choice for both cohorts, with healthcare a priority sector for Millennials and materials sectors a focus for Gen Zs.
Conversely, young investors shy from instruments with higher perceived risk, such as CFDs, options and FX.
Influenced by long-term returns and expert industry sources, Millennial and Gen Z Aussies tend to rebalance their SMSF portfolios once a fortnight (28 per cent Millennials, 35 per cent Gen Zs).
Despite appetite, lack of information and education are the biggest barriers to self-managing.
Although 27 per cent of young people who don’t have an SMSF plan to organise one, there are barriers to entry that are holding back those who aren’t self-managing:
They don’t know where to begin (42 per cent Millennials, 40 per cent Gen Z).
They don’t know how an SMSF works (36 per cent Millennials, 38 per cent Gen Z).
They prefer someone else to manage their super on their behalf (33 per cent Millennials, 29 per cent Gen Z).
eToro Australia’s Managing Director Robert Francis said: “Despite stereotypical perceptions, Millennials and Gen Z Aussies are increasingly taking their superannuation and finances into their own hands. They are realising the importance of investing younger than their parents – many as early as 18 – in order to put themselves in an advantageous position for a comfortable retirement.
“For those unsure about whether to invest in an SMSF, eToro has tools and support teams available to help guide them through the process, and we encourage them to gain the knowledge they need to make the decisions that suit their personal situation and risk tolerance,” concluded Francis.
As the NFT market continues to explode, and marketplaces break records every month, we can finally see the benefit of NFTs. For a long time, NFTs were merely a store of value, which owners could only realise when they sold them. But the situation has since changed. As the space continues to develop, NFTs are gaining more utility and providing their owners with funds in many innovative ways.
What Are the Benefits of NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital works that can consist of 2D illustrations, videos, pieces of music, or even animations. NFTs, along with blockchain technology, make it possible to verify the ownership history of works, which in turn makes proof of provenance easier to trace. Because NFTs are non-fungible, they cannot be exchanged at equivalency like fungible currencies such as the US dollar, where each dollar has an identical value. Since their inception, NFTs have helped democratise the art market, giving artists the chance to make a profit on the resale of their work – something previously unheard of in the traditional art market.
Many still question whether buying an NFT is worth it since anybody can rip an image or video from Google. To understand the value underlying NFTs, take the Mona Lisa for example. Yes, anybody can buy a poster of the painting, or snap a photo of it with a phone, but only one person (or museum, in this case) can own the original.
NFTs have become so much more than items of mere digital ownership and are now able to help brands create community and additional revenue, with the added benefit of customer relationship management and securing brands at the forefront of the digital landscape. For now, we will only focus on how brands can use NFTs to create community and additional revenue.
Creating Community Through Engagement
NFTs have become much more than just a collectible or a piece of art – they can have ongoing value. Savvy brands are recognising that the most successful and long-term relevant NFTs will be those that have ongoing value and utility. To explain this, we will use the example of the 2022 Australian Open tennis championships (AO).
The AO was the first Grand Slam to enter the Metaverse. The project started out with 6,776 ‘Art Ball NFTs’ that were minted on January 13, selling out in a matter of three hours. Within two hours of selling out, AO Art Ball NFTs were trending at #15 on the NFT marketplace OpenSea rankings, where they flooded the secondary market. This entire process was driven by an enthusiastic 10,500 member-strong AO Discord community.
AO Art Ball NFTs. Source: OpenSea
This just goes to show that NFTs can better connect fans to their favourite teams and brands by offering access to exclusive offers and the ability to earn rewards. Custodial wallets are also fast becoming social passports. In this sense, brands are utilising NFTs to create communities that are excited to share their alignment with digital assets of personal value.
Businesses and brands can take control of their digital assets and should be able to utilise new technologies and drive innovation and client retention. In this way, NFTs can be used by any brand looking to create loyalty, engagement, and a long-term connection with its customers.
Estee Lauder is another prime example of using NFTs to create community and add clients to its customer base. Clinique was the first Estee Lauder brand to offer an NFT in an effort to drive loyalty and add marketing to its top products. But instead of selling NFTs, the brand gave its shoppers who are signed up to its rewards scheme the chance to get free products for 10 years, along with one of three editions of an NFT artwork.
Estee Lauder’s Clinique NFT. Source: Clinique
Brands should also consider increasing community in attracting new clients by offering exclusive NFT incentives. By engaging with existing clients as well as attracting new clients, brands can offer NFTs that can unlock any limited resource, such as a discount or a VIP’s time. More on how VIPs’ time can be used to incentivise clients will follow.
Using NFTs to Create New Streams of Revenue
As the NFT space continues to grow, brands are recognising the need to enter the space, but also the added benefit it has to offer – in this case, as a way of creating new streams of income. To illustrate how NFTs can be beneficial in terms of creating new streams of income, we will use Dolce & Gabbana as an example.
Recently, the luxury fashion house announced it had sold out its nine-piece digital collection of NFTs, alongside physical couture items, for a whopping US$6 million. Five pieces from the collection were physical designs by Dolce & Gabbana. Some of the digital assets were accompanied by an opportunity for a custom fitting in D&G’s Milan-based atelier. This is an example of the added benefit of personalising NFTs, in this case ensuring that NFTs hold utility and are no longer just a store of value.
Gold glass dress NFT designed by D&G. Source: The New York Times
Another luxury brand can also attest that NFTs can create new streams of income. The LVMH company, which owns Moet and Chandon, Dior, Hennessy and Louis Vuitton, released its first NFT collection. Priced at a humble US$226,450, each of the NFTs represented physical and digital ownership of the first and last bottles of Hennessy 8 Cognac, a limited-edition expression from the house. The digital assets were also accompanied by a suite of physical attributes including a commemorative sculpture and a Baccarat-blown and engraved carafe.
Hennessy 8 NFT. Source: Forbes
Because NFTs offer digital scarcity, brands such as LVMH and Dolce & Gabbana can sell exclusive, limited-edition digital goods. Unlike tangible goods, NFTs can include a smart contract that codes in a royalty percentage designated by the content creator, thereby bringing in additional revenue. As such, subsequent sales or auctions of these digital goods can generate revenue for the original NFT creator, providing an ongoing potential revenue stream each time the item is sold or auctioned off.
In a similar vein to creating new streams of income, NFTs can be used to secure a brand at the forefront of the digital landscape. Last year was truly the year of the NFT, and brands are keen to get in on the action; these brands have been identified as being ahead of the curve and contemporary, rather than being seen as late adopters. In order to create new streams of revenue, some are releasing NFT collectibles or limited editions. Others are building brand loyalty or raising money for a good cause, thereby fostering a good relationship with its fan base. NFTs are being used to raise or boost a brand’s image, tell a story and even reach new audiences. Others are even utilising NFTs for live event ticketing.
How Culture Vault Can Help Brands Achieve Their NFT Goals
Culture Vault (CV), a creative agency that provides brands with NFT creative and business strategy, Metaverse strategy, project management, collaborative partnerships, minting services and sales executions, is able to assist brands with achieving their NFT goals.
NFTs do not merely represent digital assets – Culture Vault can create unique experiences for creators and brands to engage new and existing communities by bridging the gap between the physical and digital realms. Because NFTs are freely exchangeable on the blockchain, they can create a secondary market for limited-edition goods, further expanding the ability to reach additional audiences and bolster revenue streams.
Culture Vault
CV helps brands interested in obtaining the benefits of NFTs by working with emerging and established artists from the digital and traditional cultural worlds – painters, illustrators, musicians, fashion designers, animators and filmmakers – to create, mint, sell and display their work on CV’s Web3 platform.
The passionate team at CV provides crypto-natives and first-time NFT buyers with a one-stop shop for procuring curated digital assets. By minting on the Polygon Network, CV is able to greatly reduce gas fees and mitigate the environmental impact they have on its energy consumption. All CV smart contracts are read by OpenSea and are available for purchase with wrapped Ethereum (WETH).
Choosing CV to co-pilot an NFT journey has many benefits:
The team at CV is made up of both traditional art world experts and Web3 technologists, resulting in an in-depth understanding of both sides of the spectrum.
CV is a curated NFT marketplace and agency, so it works with a network of artists and leading cultural figures from around the world.
The company has Web3 and NFT evangelists at the core of the agency’s ecosystem.
CV only works with brands who deliver premium, value-driven propositions.
CV can create five types of NFT projects including art, Metaverse, Membership and Incentives, collectibles, and redemptions. In terms of art, CV can assist brands to create premium digital assets to build brand awareness, champion creators from a certain demographic or location, and drive revenue. As it stands, the most common use of NFTs is to lock digital art on-chain. With CV, you are providing your audience and customer base with high-quality digital works that they can trade or hold, thereby adding to one’s NFT art collection.
The Metaverse is the new buzzword, and CV wants to ensure that your brand/company is accurately portrayed in both worlds.
NFTs as membership and incentives is an innovative way for a brand’s community to coalesce around its core values. CV can help by offering incentives such as tokens to achieve NFT goals. Naturally, CV is able to assist brands with digital collectibles so as to engage their community in the same way that early trading and gaming cards became valuable assets for keen collectors.
Redemption is another manifestation of using NFTs connected to offline products, as the limited goods do not need to be redeemed – that can happen anytime in the future. Again, because NFTs are exchangeable, collectors could invest in luxury items in the hope of them appreciating in value. However, with the help of CV and NFTs, holders no longer have to take physical delivery of an item and can simply sell their NFTs representing the items on the secondary market to profit from their investment.
The expansion offers higher liquidity and makes trading easier for users of all experience levels.
BTC.com.au, launched in 2018 as one of Australia’s first crypto trading platforms, has announced an expansion of its business model. Since its launch, BTC.com.au has been a Bitcoin-only focused service. But with its expansion, BTC.com.au will now serve as a full-fledged exchange giving traders access to today’s most popular tokens and serving as a one-stop trading platform.
By expanding its offerings, BTC.com.au aims to become the only exchange that those looking to buy, sell, and exchange crypto need. The platform has gone from being a Bitcoin-exclusive exchange to now boasting over 20 cryptocurrencies and growing weekly. The development team has focused on creating an easy ecosystem for crypto investors of all experience levels to use while ensuring the highest level of security.
BTC.com.au’s New Trading Platform
In building its new platform, the BTC.com.au team has added new features and expanded the capabilities of those previously enjoyed by its community. The user-friendly interface lets users buy and sell crypto faster without getting bogged down with slow-loading sites and complicated graphics. Faster payments are also a welcomed new feature, with an instant settlement protocol when users sell their crypto. Australian users also enjoy streamlined integration with select Aussie banks to make retrieving their funds easier. The team is also working on launching its BTC Earn program in the coming months, which will allow users to earn interest on their crypto holdings.
Since its inception, BTC.com.au has aimed to be at the forefront of the cryptocurrency sector. To continue to build on this mission, we have now expanded our exchange, creating the token offerings, services, and ease-of-use that will make it the only crypto platforms users need, especially our fellow Aussies.
Domenic Favaloro, COO BTC.com.au
Enhance Liquidity
The team has also focused on building deeper liquidity and faster execution times on trades. Users enjoy lower transaction rates, boosting their portfolio’s values while also having access to advanced funding options. BTC.com.au also allows investors to set up advanced orders with its state-of-the-art API, further putting users in control of their portfolios.
Custodial Service
With the platform’s growth, BTC.com.au is also pivoting from a non-custodial service to a custodial service, giving investors a secure digital location to store their funds. To protect users’ funds, the team has built its wallet to adhere to the strictest safety measures in the industry by utilising the top crypto and digital asset platform for institutions.
Local Support
As an Aussie company, BTC.com.au is also committed to keeping its support local to serve its Australian users better. The support team is located in BTC.com.au’s Sydney office and offers support driven by real people instead of bots or recorded messages.
To learn more and to sign up for the exchange, visit BTC.com.au.
