Author: Jody McDonald

Jody is a Brisbane-based freelance writer who specialises in writing about business, technology, and the future of work.

Categories
Crypto News ETFs Investing Regulation Surveys

Nasdaq Reveals 72% of Financial Advisers Will Use Crypto After Spot ETF Approval

A survey of financial advisers commissioned by Nasdaq has found that 72 percent would be more likely to invest client assets in crypto if a spot ETF product were available in the US.

The survey was conducted throughout March 2022 and involved 500 US-based financial advisers who are currently, or are considering, allocating assets to crypto.

What Is a Crypto Spot ETF?

A crypto spot ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that allows an investor to gain exposure to crypto without actually having to own any digital assets. Unlike a futures ETF, a spot ETF is backed by the actual commodity, in this case digital assets, rather than by the value of the futures contracts tied to the commodity, which may diverge significantly from the actual asset price.

The advantages of investing in a crypto ETF over owning crypto directly are primarily:

  • exposure to crypto through a regulated product offering higher levels of consumer protection;
  • easier access for non-technical investors; and
  • no need to store crypto or deal with private keys, etc.

Crypto-based spot ETFs have so far not been approved by US authorities due to regulatory concerns, mostly around consumer protections and the risk of market manipulation.

Advisers Excited, But Most Expect To Wait

Although most of the financial advisers surveyed were excited about the prospect of a crypto-based spot ETF product, most aren’t holding their breath with only 38 percent considering it likely such a product will launch in 2022.

However, the lack of spot ETF products doesn’t mean financial advisers aren’t finding other ways to help their clients invest in crypto. According to Jake Rapaport, head of Digital Asset Index Research at Nasdaq, advisers are making do right now, but he expects investment products such as spot ETFs to become necessary soon to keep up with client demand:

The vast majority of advisers we surveyed either plan to begin allocating to crypto or increase their existing allocation to crypto. As demand continues to surge, advisers will be looking for an institutional solution to the crypto question that now dominates client conversations.

Jake Rapaport, head of Digital Asset Index Research, Nasdaq

Of the advisers surveyed, 50 percent reported they’re already using Bitcoin futures ETFs and 86 percent expected to increase their crypto allocations in the next 12 months.

This survey is just the latest to show that institutional investors are clamouring for crypto-based ETFs. Another survey released last September found 84 percent of institutional investors throughout Europe, US and Asia wanted to see more crypto ETFs, and a survey released earlier this month found almost nine out of 10 Australian financial advisers reported being asked about investing in crypto by clients.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs

Star Trek Fans Push Back Against ‘Tone Deaf’ NFT Launch 

Many ‘Trekkies’ have taken to social media to criticise the release of Star Trek™ NFTs for being contrary to the spirit of the iconic TV and film franchise.

The NFT collection, issued by Paramount via the RECUR marketplace on April 9, featured “algorithmically generative starships” at US$250 a pop, with more than 8,000 sold during the 24-hour sale.

While RECUR had urged people to “boldly go into the unknown” by getting involved in the NFT launch, a large number of fans felt the move was “highly illogical” – if not in direct opposition to Star Trek’s values – and were quick to bring out their Picard facepalm GIFs: 

The brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, the original Star Trek™ television series aired in the late ’60s and has since spawned multiple spinoffs and had a huge impact on popular culture – it’s particularly well-loved for its optimistic portrayal of a utopian future free from bigotry and materialism.

Sale Did Not Live Long or Prosper

The NFT drop had mixed success for Paramount. Reports say the ‘Admiral Pack’, which contained 5,000 unique Constitution or Constitution Refit starship NFTs, sold out within minutes. However, just 3,000 of a potential 150,000 of the ‘Captain Pack’ featuring other starships were snapped up during the 24-hour public sale. 

The environmental impact, quality of the images, and the high cost of the NFTs on offer were points of contention for many.

Some fans shared publicly that they’d declined the chance to be paid to promote the NFT drop, while others suggested that negative feedback was being hidden:  

NFTs Prove Hit-and-Miss For Brands

The Star Trek™ collection is not the first NFT release from a brand that’s been deemed exploitative and resulted in community backlash. Australian airline Qantas encountered pushback when it recently issued a digital collection of memorabilia, and fans were so unenthused by Liverpool FC’s NFT launch that less than 6 percent sold in the first week.

Categories
Australia Blockchain DAO Economics

RMIT Proposes ‘Docklands DAO’ to Help Melbourne Precinct Recover From Pandemic

A report released by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology’s Blockchain Innovation Hub has proposed the creation of a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) to help revitalise the Docklands district of Melbourne, following Covid-related lockdowns and restrictions that affected the city more than most others in Australia.

The April 7 report is the second of five commissioned by the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF) to explore opportunity areas for the creation of a digital CBD in Melbourne.

Docklands Ideal Location for DAO Pilot

The report’s author, Dr Max Parasol, believes the Docklands precinct would be the ideal location for the pilot DAO project because it faces a number of challenges due both to its location and the economic consequences of the Covid pandemic:

  • It’s geographically disconnected from Melbourne’s CBD.
  • It faces inconsistent and reduced foot traffic due to work-from-home and hybrid work models.
  • Local businesses have unpredictable inventory requirements. 
  • There are negative impacts from tenant rent discounts and vacancies.

Dr Parasol said the creation of a Docklands DAO would empower businesses to overcome these challenges and reinvigorate the local economy:

A Docklands DAO would encourage community buy-in and engagement as a way to regenerate the precinct … the beauty of a DAO is that it provides greater levels of transparency, openness and democratic governance so every member of the DAO [the community] has a voice and voting power.

Dr Max Parasol, RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub

A DAO is an open-source, blockchain-based organisation defined by rules encoded in a smart contract and governed by members who vote on proposals using governance tokens.

Docklands DAO Would Launch in Two-Stage Process

The report suggests a two-stage process for the creation of Docklands DAO. The first stage would involve the collection of anonymised local people traffic data and other key metrics such as rental costs, with the goal of assisting local businesses to more accurately predict customer numbers and business expenses.

In stage two, Docklands DAO assumes control of the collected data. Local business owners and community members, as part of the DAO, would vote on how to use the data to optimise resource allocations and improve the local economy to benefit all DAO participants.

Jason Potts, co-director of the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, suggests DAOs such as the proposed Docklands DAO will help communities manage new digital resources and overcome the challenges of a post-Covid world:

The technology is just a vehicle for a new approach to community-led and community-owned discovery of new resources and opportunities with which we can continuously reinvent the local economies that make up our cities, and that has never been more important than right now. 

Jason Potts, co-director, RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub

RMIT has been a prominent player in the Australian crypto space, having last year urged the federal government to reform crypto tax settings and being ranked second in CoinDesk’s global Top Universities for Blockchain list.

Categories
Australia Banking Investing Regulation

Commonwealth Bank’s Crypto App Delayed Due to Regulatory Hurdles

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) plan to offer 10 popular cryptocurrencies to customers through its banking app has been delayed due to regulatory issues as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) ensures the offering complies with its new design and distribution rules.

CBA announced its intention to start selling crypto direct to retail customers in November 2021, marking the first offering of this kind by any Australian bank.

First Foray May Help Clarify Regulatory Approach

The main regulatory sticking points for ASIC relate to the product disclosure statement for the crypto products, the intended target market, and ensuring consumer protections. 

Speaking at this week’s Australian Financial Review Cryptocurrency Summit, ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour suggested CBA was having trouble ensuring its crypto products complied with the requirements of ASIC’s design and distribution rules:

We’re interested in any sort of new innovation where we think there [are] real benefits of innovation being within our regulatory regime. There are a bunch of rules there that you need to follow.

Cathie Armour, ASIC commissioner 

The delays CBA is facing now may clarify the regulatory landscape moving forward and encourage other banks and traditional financial organisations to start offering crypto products.

Partnership Means Investor Funds Held Offshore

To help create its crypto offerings, the CBA has partnered with US-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. Under the partnership, Gemini provides custody services, which means investor funds are held offshore under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Financial Services. 

Pro-crypto NSW Senator Andrew Bragg has described this arrangement as “not ideal”, suggesting he’d eventually like to see Australian-based custodial services: “I think there’ll be some moral pressure on organisations in Australian businesses.”

Despite the regulatory issues it has faced, CBA has said the initial pilot of its in-app crypto offering was highly successful and that it intends to invest heavily in more crypto-related services in the future.

Categories
Crypto Hardware Wallets Crypto News DeFi Ledger NFTs

Ledger Launches NFT-Focused Hardware Wallet ‘Nano S Plus’

A new hardware wallet released by Ledger this week promises to let people securely explore more of Web3 by offering management tools for NFT collections and space to install up to 100 apps.  

The Nano S Plus improves on the popular Nano S – released five years ago – by adding a larger screen that makes it easier to make transactions as well as more memory, enabling the installation of up to 100 apps to manage over 5,500 digital assets:

Ledger flagged its intention to become a gateway for the broader digital asset ecosystem in June last year when it announced a US$380 million fundraising round. 

A Secure Wallet Designed to be DeFi and NFT-Friendly

Ledger said the new wallet provides offline security for investors’ crypto as well as the convenience to securely manage a range of other digital assets. 

By pairing the wallet with Ledger’s digital asset management app, Ledger Live, users can display and manage their NFTs with their private keys, including securely sending and signing NFT transactions. 

The Ledger Nano S Plus is a Nano S on steroids. It provides you with more space to freely enjoy the ever-expanding world of DeFi and NFTs. We keep improving our world-leading hardware devices to allow you to securely explore the Web3 ecosystem.

Pascal Gauthier, Ledger chairman and CEO

Nano S Plus is compatible with Desktop and Android Mobile with a USB cable, has a 128 x 64 pixel screen, a storage size of 1.5MB, and costs A$129. 

Ledger has sold more than 3 million Nano S devices around the world. All signs point to Nano S Plus being in strong demand too – a limited-edition release of the wallet in March sold out 10,000 units in one day.

This is despite issues that call into question Ledger’s security, such as data breaches in June last year that resulted in sophisticated fake hardware wallets being sent to exposed customers’ addresses.

Categories
Crypto News Investing Markets Surveys

Gemini Report Reveals 80% of Aussie Crypto Investors are HODLers

The first global state of crypto report from cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has found that over 80 percent of Australian crypto investors opt to hold their assets long-term. 

The high percentage of committed HODLers in Australia is similar to figures found in other parts of the world – from 72 percent in the Middle East to 85 percent in the US.

The survey, which was conducted online between November 23, 2021, and February 4, 2022,  asked 30,000 people from 20 countries about their attitudes and behaviour relating to cryptocurrency investments in an effort to uncover trends and characterise the current state of the market.

Percentage of investors who buy and hold, and actively trade, by region. Source: Gemini 2022 Global State of Crypto report

2021 a Huge Year for Adoption in Australia and Globally

Another of the major takeaways from the report was just how big a year it was for crypto adoption – 43 percent of Australians surveyed said they first invested in crypto in 2021. Curiously, this finding contrasts sharply with a survey from Saxo Markets released late last year that found only one in 10 Australians had any idea what crypto is.

Globally, the Gemini survey found the 2021 adoption numbers were even higher – 44 percent of Americans surveyed said 2021 was the year they got into crypto, and over half of all respondents from Brazil (51%), Hong Kong (51%) and India (54%) said 2021 was the first time they’d bought crypto.

Future Looks Bright

Based on the findings from its survey, the Gemini report is bullish about the future of crypto, stating:

In 2021, cryptocurrency reached a tipping point, evolving from what many considered a niche investment into a global, established asset class.

2022 Gemini Global State of Crypto report

The report also points out that the overall crypto market capitalisation topped out at almost US$3 trillion in 2021, making crypto the best performing asset class of the past decade.

Another report released late last year by digital asset management firm Mawson was similarly positive, finding that the crypto market in Australia could grow to over A$68 billion by 2030.

Categories
Crime Crypto Wallets Hackers Scams

Cybersecurity Uncovers 13 Malicious Wallets that Could Steal Your Crypto

A criminal plot to steal users’ digital assets via apps impersonating popular cryptocurrency wallets has been uncovered in new research by global cybersecurity firm ESET.

ESET believes it’s likely that a single criminal group is behind the coordinated scheme to steal users’ crypto funds – via more than 40 copycat websites of popular crypto wallets used to promote downloads of malicious apps.

While the malicious apps were not available on Apple’s App Store (instead requiring download and installation using a configuration profile), 13 apps impersonating the Jaxx Liberty wallet were found on the Google Play store and have subsequently been removed by Google.

Counterfeit Wallets Target Chinese Users

Primarily targeting Chinese users, across both Android and iOS devices, the malicious apps closely mimicked the appearance and functionality of legitimate wallets including MetaMask, Coinbase and Trust Wallet.  

ESET researcher Lukáš Štefanko said the malicious code used in the Trojan wallets enables users’ funds to be stolen and opened users to other risks:

These malicious apps also represent another threat to victims, as some of them send secret victim seed phrases to the attackers’ server using an unsecured HTTP connection. This means that victims’ funds could be stolen not only by the operator of this scheme, but also by a different attacker eavesdropping on the same network.

Lukáš Štefanko, ESET researcher

Beware Before You Download

ESET found the Trojan apps and fake websites were sophisticated, and also promoted using ads on legitimate sites and via groups on Telegram and Facebook.

The firm said the source code of the threat it uncovered has now been leaked online, which could encourage and enable other criminals to spread the threat even further. 

In light of the findings, Keystone Wallet tweeted a warning to its users to be wary of what they download:

Fake wallet scams are a key risk for crypto investors. Last year it was revealed that over US$500,000 had been lost due to Google Ads directing users to fake wallets, while Apple was served a US$5 million lawsuit over a phishing app disguised as a wallet that was available in the tech giant’s App Store.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News Markets Tokens Waves

WAVES Protocol is Making Waves, Surging 70% Amid News of US Launch

The price of the Waves blockchain’s token (WAVES) has surged over 70 percent following the March 28 launch of Waves Labs, a US-based organisation tasked with supercharging Waves ecosystem’s growth globally.

According to CoinGecko, WAVES’ value jumped from US$31.80 to US$54 in the 24 hours following the announcement. Since then it’s continued to increase, at the time of writing sitting at US$57.14 – a new all-time high.

Waves Labs to Boost Awareness and Adoption

Waves Labs, which will be headquartered in Miami, US, will spearhead expansion of the Waves ecosystem by pursuing aggressive marketing and hiring strategies and by supporting Waves-based projects with mentoring and funding grants.

Waves founder Sasha Ivanov was optimistic that Waves Labs would further boost the ecosystem despite the network having recently seen record growth, stating:

Waves Labs is a key component of the Waves plan to grow exponentially in 2022. Despite a period of record growth of our ecosystem, Waves remains relatively unknown in the US crypto space. With the founding of Waves Labs, the ecosystem fund, and the extremely talented team in place, I do not doubt that Waves will reach mass adoption in 2022 and beyond. 

Sasha Ivanov, founder, Waves

New Team Brings Crypto Experience

Waves Labs also announced its newly hired senior leadership team, which includes:

  • Aleks Rubin as head of US Operations;
  • Coleman Maher, who previously led business development at Origin Protocol, as head of Ecosystem;
  • Jack Booth, former product marketing lead at Oasis Protocol, as Marketing Lead; and
  • Tiffany Phan as VP of Finance and Operations. 

US head Rubin said: “I am excited to lead this dynamic team as we expand visibility and enhance the utilisation of Waves protocol in the North American market.”

US Launch Follows Bullish Period 

The launch of Waves Labs follows a recent run of bullish news for the network, starting in February of this year: the migration to Waves 2.0; the launch of a US$150 million fund to support Waves-based dApps; and its partnership with Allbridge to facilitate cross-chain interoperability. 

In addition, the total value locked in the Waves ecosystem has boomed recently. In particular, Neutrino – a Waves-based multi-assetisation protocol – has exploded, seeing its total value locked increase over 300 percent in the past month to a new all-time high of US$4.36 billion, including inflows of almost US$450 million in a single day.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Investing Markets Solana

Crypto Sees Biggest Institutional Inflows This Year Driven By BTC, ETH and SOL

A report released by crypto asset management firm CoinShares shows that institutional crypto funds have seen their biggest capital inflows since December 2021, with over US$193 million pouring into the funds during the week ending March 25.

This new wave of interest in crypto investment products follows two weeks of outflows from crypto funds and coincides with a 15 percent increase in Bitcoin’s price over the past week.

European Funds, Bitcoin Lead the Way

Of the total inflows, European-based funds saw US$147 million, or around 76 percent, while a relatively paltry US$45 million went into US-based funds.

Bitcoin-focused funds were by far the most popular investment product, seeing US$97.8 in inflows, bringing total inflows since the start of 2022 to US$162 million.

Solana Funds Had Their Best Week, Most Altcoins Did Well

This was the single best week ever for Solana funds, with over US$87 million pouring in – representing 36 percent of assets under management, which now stand at a total of US$241 million. This makes Solana the fifth-largest investment product and the second-largest altcoin behind Ethereum.

Ethereum-focused funds were the second most popular altcoin, with US$10.2 million in inflows; Cardano-focused funds saw US$1.8 million; Polkadot-focused US$1.2 million, and ATOM-focused funds saw around US$800,000.

Flows by asset. Source: CoinShare

Multi-asset funds bucked the trend and recorded US$5.5 million in outflows, which was a surprise since they’ve been relatively popular recently – this being only the second week this year they’ve seen net outflows.

Categories
Ethereum Gaming Loopring NFTs

Loopring (LRC) Surges 55% Amid Release of GameStop NFT Marketplace

The Ethereum Layer-2 protocol Loopring (LRC) surged 55 percent following the launch of the beta version of GameStop’s Loopring-powered NFT marketplace on March 23.

According to CoinGecko, the price of LRC leapt from US$0.80 to just over US$1.20 in under 12 hours. At the time of writing the price is sitting at US$1.08, up around 35 percent from its pre-launch price but still down more than 70 percent from its all-time high.

Loopring Aims For Cheap, Secure, Fast NFTs

The launch was announced by Loopring’s head of growth Adam Browman, who said the new marketplace would make NFTs accessible to all in the gaming community by reducing costs and ensuring security:

The new marketplace built atop Loopring L2 ensures that users receive the strongest digital property rights anchored by a secure, decentralised, and credibly neutral environment like Ethereum. Loopring zkRollup inherits Ethereum’s self-custodial security while abstracting away costly gas fees, leaving no one priced out.

Adam Browman, Loopring head of growth

Browman also noted that Loopring provides the performance and scalability required to run this kind of marketplace, which he says was, until recently, “unimaginable”.

Launch Sparks New Interest

Interest in Loopring exploded in November last year when rumours first emerged of its involvement in a GameStop NFT marketplace, causing the price to surge to well over US$3 and the number of Loopring Smart wallet app users to boom:

After the initial wave of interest, though, investors started to question the degree of Loopring’s involvement as other layer 2s, such as ImmutableX, were linked with the project. The announcement of this beta marketplace confirms the rumours and may signal further growth for Loopring in coming months.