Author: José Oramas

José is a journalist and translator with a keen interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

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Australia Crypto Exchange Crypto News

Australia’s Independent Reserve is Set to Delist Bitcoin SV and Related Pairs

Australia’s largest crypto-exchange, Independent Reserve, is set to delist Bitcoin SV from its platform, according to a recent announcement. Aussies will have until March 28 to trade the token, and additional six months to withdraw it.

The Independent Reserve is the latest exchange to delist Bitcoin SV in light of recent events that involved the Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, considered anti-ethical by many in the crypto community.

Following discontent and feedback from the community, the exchange stated that the token is not meeting the standards required for users:

In light of recent events and community feedback Bitcoin SV (BSV) and related trading pairs will be delisted.

Withdrawal requests after the six month grace period may be delayed and could incur additional processing fees. All open orders will be automatically cancelled after trading ceases on the 28th of March, 2021.

Bitcoin SV Fails to Meet the Standards

More users are starting to lose interesting in BSV as the trading volume in exchanges decreases with time. Many argue that is the start, and several other platforms will delist the token, as it doesn’t perform as expected.

It’s not the first time that the BSV token fails to meet the standards required on exchanges to be traded — in 2019, Binance delisted BSV on its platform following complaints from the community about the performance of the token.

Kraken, another popular U.S.-based exchange, followed Binance and delist the token as well, quoting “fraudulent claims” and “threats of legal action”.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Crypto News Institutions

Silver Lake CEO: 90% of Criminals Prefer Dollars, Not Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies are now a major topic of the Davos 2021 Agenda, which started yesterday and will last until January 29. Top institutional leaders from the World Economic Forum are set to discuss a series of issues regarding the global economy and the use of digital assets and blockchain technology. During the conversation panel, the CEO of Silver Lake addressed Janet Yellen’s statements on Bitcoin used as “terrorist financing“.

In the first session of the Davos 2021 event, Glenn Hutchins —CEO of the technology investment company Silver Lake— share his thoughts on the topic of cryptocurrencies, referring to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s statements about Bitcoin:

“In the US, 80-90% of $100 dollar bills are used for organised crime and tax evasion and there’s a very good reason for that – they’re untraceable and fungible. Bitcoin, however, leaves a permanent, unalterable record, hence why almost all criminals using it are caught. It is fundamentally wrong to say that Bitcoin is mostly used for crime.”

Stated Hutchins for Finextra at the Davos Summit

Institutions Are “Ignorant” to Blockchain Technology

Hutchins added that traditional financial institutions are overlooking digital assets and blockchain technology without weighing the benefits they can provide for the economy. The CEO stated that this view over Bitcoin and other cryptos is ignorant and it undermines the benefits that the blockchain network can bring to the financial system.

Janet Yellen’s speech regarding cryptocurrencies was multiform, as she considers them as a “particular concern” to the economy — leading to illegal activities such as financing terrorism and tax evasion. But it seems that the Secretary also has a good view of cryptos, calling the benefits they can bring to the economy.

However, under the Biden Administration, the Secretary plans to curtail the use of cryptocurrencies, exploring “new methods” to regulate and, ultimately, eliminating those “crime channels”.

The Outrage Of The Crypto Community

Not surprisingly, this sparked outrage from the crypto-community, pumping fear during trading sessions as well at the end of last week.

According to data from Chainalysis, cryptocurrency use amid terrorist organizations only accounted for 0.34 in the market. Not only U.S. Dollars account for most illicit activities, but at least 16 banks from Australia and Southeast Asia were accused of laundering at least $400,000,000 in a joint scheme with South American drug cartels.

Following Hutchins’s statements, Bitcoin only gained a few pips, but the charts show that we still are in a consolidation zone, while other DeFi tokens are outperforming BTC in the market.

BTC/USD chart
Categories
Australia Bitcoin DeFi Tokens

DeFi Tokens Outperforming Bitcoin — Aave, Chainlink, and UNI Storming the Market with 35% Surge

DeFi tokens and altcoins have accumulated considerable gains of up to 30 % in price in the last few days. While Bitcoin still struggles to break the $32K barrier, several tokens have surpassed previous price records and setting new all-time highs, considering the increased volumes of DEXs —decentralized exchanges—, and traders looking for Altcoins with limited supply, but greater performance.

DeFi Tokens Doing Better Than Bitcoin

Despite a generally bearish market for the DeFi ecosystem at the end of 2020, DEX volumes have increased 8X by project, according to data from Dune Analytics, sparking DeFi-related tokens like Curve DAO and Uniswap UNI.

Source: Dune Analytics

From June 2020 to this month, the DeFi ecosystem has increased considerably surpassing $35B in total value lock with Uniswap —one of the most popular decentralized protocols— leading the charts.

Besides UNI, other tokens like Chainlink’s LINK and Aave have surged with double-digit gains in the last seven days. LINK has accumulated 15 % in price, outranking Litecoin as the number 7 per market capitalization.

Similarly, UNI and Aave have outperformed Bitcoin in the last few days with both tokens gaining 30-37% in price. Likewise, despite the recent price surge this month, holders are still accumulating large amounts of UNI tokens, setting the scene for a larger bull run.

Source: Coinmarketcap

On the other hand, Bitcoin still struggles to break the $32K, despite MicroStrategy recently purchasing $10M worth of BTC. The consolidation is viewed as institutional exhaustion and the uncertainty of the upcoming institutional weather under the Biden administration.

As for the top DeFi tokens in the market, LINK, UNI, and Aave are leading the top 5, together with Wrapped BTC in the #3 spot.

Top DeFi tokens per market cap. Source: Coinmarketcap

Despite the recent bearish week for Bitcoin, traders are expecting a recovery in price considering that this January 25, leaders from the World Economic Forum will discuss digital currencies as part of their Davos 2021 Agenda. Cryptocurrencies will be one of the main issues to be discussed in a session called “Resetting digital currencies”.

The panel will focus on the current environment for Bitcoin and other cryptos and the opportunities they present compared to the decreased cash use and considering how several central banks globally are issuing CBDCs —Central Bank Digital Currencies—.

Get Involved with DeFi

In Australia, there has been an increased interest in DeFi tokens now that Kraken is trying to expand its presence in the country and in the United Kingdom. The U.S.-based exchange will introduce 26 new trading pairs, including LINK and Aave that Aussies can trade with AUD.

Likewise, there are several popular Australian platforms where people can buy and trade numerous pairs, like the Brisbane-based Swyft, an exchange that offers over 200 trading pairs, including LINK and Aave — or Binance Australia, one of the largest crypto-platforms in the world, that host more than 700 pairs.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Education

Australians Can Now Become Blockchain Consultants Through TAFE Queensland

The demand for skilled and qualified personnel in the Blockchain space grew exponentially in Australia in recent months. Now Blockchain Collective, an educational body for blockchain learning, plans to meet those demands by partnering with TAFE Queensland — one of the largest course and training providers with 50 locations across Australia.

TAFE Queensland will now provide Queensland students, including Brisbane and Gold Coast with an official advanced diploma in Applied Blockchain. The state will become the first in Australia to provide Aussies with training in the blockchain sector.

Featured on Nine News recently, Nathan Burns, Co-founder at Blockchain Collective, together with Richard Barret, TAFE QLD Director of Faculty, both spoke about the necessity of bringing qualified professionals into the innovative blockchain sector, with a potential skills shortage leading into the anticipated blockchain boom in Australia.

It’s a big opportunity for us and it also allows a lot more people to see and get involved in the blockchain space.

Nathan Burns, Co-founder at Blockchain Collective on Nine News

The Blockchain Courses

Students can become Blockchain Consultants through accredited courses consisting of up to 10 modules, exploring complex areas like preparing organisations to operate on the network and avoid cyber-crimes, and applying and anaylising blockchain frameworks for businesses.

The courses will focus heavily on tech application and strategy rather than blockchain coding. Students will receive all the essential skills to implement blockchain business models and frameworks.

The Jobs of the Future

The courses will be essential for Australians seeking to explore blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. And as the general awareness of digital assets arises, so does the growing interest to get involved in this exciting new space.

Categories
Australia Institutions

“Bitcoin Is Money Laundering” While Australian and International Financial Institutions Are Accused Of Money Laundering

Since their creation, cryptocurrencies have put an alarm on financial institutions, such as banks, calling them mere schemes that promote money laundering and shady activities. But, Ironically enough, a new report has revealed that at least 16 international financial institution —nine of them are Australian— are behind major money laundering schemes with drugs cartels from South America.

Australian banks were participants in a money-laundering scheme together with South American drug cartels. Accordingly, Australian banks washed more than US$500M dollars.

According to the Australian Border Force —ABF— the cartels moved the drugs with “sophisticated” methods through several countries, primarily in North America, in a joint scheme with banks. These methods alarmed the officers due to the several contradictions on the invoices on behalf of importers and exporters.

But According to Institutions, Bitcoin Still Accounts for Money Laundering

According to the ABF, from 2014 to 2017, at least $100M in drugs were channeled through nine Australian banks and transferred to other institutions in the Middle East and South-east Asia.

The ABF decided to withhold the name of the banks together with the drug cartels over “security”, and “legal” procedures. The case was left to the Border Related Financial Crimes Unit, together with Australia’s financial intelligence regulator, AUSTRAC.

Meanwhile, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, bashes and reduces cryptocurrencies to mere schemes that advocate money laundering and “Shady businesses”.

Likewise, during the confirmation hearing to the post of Treasury Secretary this Tuesday, the former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen stated that cryptocurrencies are a major concern due to terrorist financing and money laundering.

But in 2020, the criminal activity regarding the use of cryptocurrencies only accounted for 0.34% in the market, according to data from Chainalysis.

Source: Chainalysis 2021 Crypto Crime Report

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Time to Trade Altcoins? Other Cryptos Are Surging While BTC Struggles to Reach $40K

Despite recovering from a robust bearish correction, Bitcoin struggles to reach $40K with volatile market movements since last week. Now altcoins could take the spot for retailers.

Traders Seeking for Altseason

Traders and analysts are considering moving towards altcoins with a smaller market cap, but with greater profits in the long run. The calls for an Altseason began on January 10, when Polkadot’s DOT token reached the fourth spot with the most market cap.

The Ethereum-powered Chainlink token —LINK— followed with 13 % gains in the last days, taking the number 9 spot in the market. A handful of altcoins started seeing considerable bullish movements while BTC was entering into a consolidated zone.

Several altcoins were up by at least 2 – 10 % in the last 24 hours:

  • Cosmos Atom: 13%
  • NEO: 17.75%
  • Litecoin: 4%
  • VeChain VET: 11.31%

Analysts suggest that Bitcoin is coiling up for another major bullish run and in the meantime, this could be a great opportunity to trade the alt market.

According to graphs by the data tracker Thermocap, Bitcoin is still traded at “the lower-end” of the bullish run, suggesting a longer uptrend. Especially this week, considering Grayscale bought 10,000 BTCs, resuming its massive crypto purchases.

According to researcher Geer Jan Cap, the “Short term peak was January 10th, at 20. We’re still in the low end of the ’21 bubble phase. 16 would be the bubble phase”.

Source: Twitter / GeerJancap

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies

Institutions Can’t Stop The Bulls: Bitcoin Bounces Back, And it Could Go Even Higher

Good news for Bitcoiners, as the father of all cryptos recently bounced back, reaching US$40,000, and currently traded at US$39,400. But Bitcoin could reach an even higher price if the demand increases, with a curbed purchasing power.

Could Exchanges Limit Bitcoin Buying?

The volatility of the cryptomarket has put heavy buying pressure on exchanges. So much, that the Israeli-based exchange eToro had to warn its users about “possible limitations” on Bitcoin buying orders.

After abruptly closing crypto positions on Wednesday due to “Extreme market volatility”, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday:

It’s our effort to give clients advance notice that there may be restrictions. We obviously hope we will not have to implement any of these but the crypto markets are incredibly volatile at the moment and the weekends present the greatest challenges

The warning has pumped fear and anxiety in several retailers, who argue this could only boost the price, and the famous Fear Of Missing Out —FOMO— could kick in among investors.

BTC/USD chart.

Millions of positions worldwide were wiped out in just a week when BTC caught retailers off guard with a -20% price dump.

Not surprisingly, now that BTC has recovered at least 10 % in price, traditional institutions are now desperate to regulate cryptocurrencies, quoting “money laundering scam”.

On Wednesday, Cristine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank stated:

Bitcoin is a highly speculative asset which has conducted some funny business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity.

But tables are turning, as bulls ignore institutions and politicians trying to hold back cryptos and lowering them to mere schemes.

The statements from Lagarde had the opposite effect as well, as the bull run came exactly after her declarations.

Despite the recent price drop, Australians haven’t lost hope in cryptocurrencies as well. There’s a greater daily inflow of Aussies in exchanges looking to trade cryptos and invest in BTC using SMSFs.

Not only the possible limitations on buying calls could spark the price even higher, but traders are also worried about liquidation following institutional hoarding on cryptocurrencies.

Categories
Australia Crime Crypto News Illegal

“E-bay For Criminals”: Australian Man Arrested For Running Illegal Marketplace With Cryptos

German authorities recently arrested an Australian man who ran an illegal marketplace, called “The E-bay for criminals”. Apparently, the man received payments via cryptocurrencies with transactions worth 4650 Bitcoins and 12,000 Monero — the current equivalent value of $212,832,280 Australian Dollars.

The 34-year-old, identified only as Julien K, was trying to cross the Danish-German border when the Police arrived and arrested him. The Dark Market was so large and popular in the darknet that The Australian Federal Police —together with the Scotland Yard, the Europol, German authorities, and the FBI— had to join forces to reach Julian’s whereabouts.

Dark Market Landpage

The Dark Market Ran Silk Road-style

Julian ran Dark Market similarly to Silk Road, the most famous digital black market that hosted illegal products and activities founded by Ross William Ulrich. But Silk Road still has its underground users: two months ago, the U.S. Justice Department seized $1 billion in moved Silk Road crypto.

Like Silk Road, Dark Market used Bitcoin and other cryptos as a payment method.

The Dark Market also used the Tor network for its illegal activities with cryptocurrencies.

There was a similar case in Australia, where New South Wales authorities arrested a woman behind a “Bitcoin scheme”. Police arrested the 59-year old in a shopping centre in Burwood, accused of belonging to a syndicate that profited off by illegally exchanging BTC for money. The case was called “The first kind in Australia”.

Dark Market was operating since 2014, but according to the German police, the joint investigation sparked in 2019 when they found a data processing platform that hosted illegal markets. Organized criminals ran the data center in an abandoned 5,000 square meters NATO bunker.

Likewise, authorities in the German city Koblenz seized around 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine, shutting them down on Monday.

According to dark.fail, The platform was run on “Eckmar” a PHP script that kept shipping addresses encrypted:

Julian refused to speak to any investigator for now. Prosecutors are now analyzing the platform to discover all its users and proceed to a greater investigation.

Categories
Australia

Australians Remain Positive About Investing On The Cryptomarket Despite The Recent Price Drop

Despite the recent bearish run in the crypto-market, Aussies remain positive about investing in cryptocurrencies, especially in Bitcoin, with greater inflows of investors in crypto exchanges daily.

CEO of Bitcoin Markets, Caroline Bowler, stated that in the first weeks of January, BTC Markets registered an increased inflow of Australians looking to trade the cryptomarket on her platform. The recent price drop has given an entry for retailers who probably missed out on the all-time high of $40K or are looking to enter the market again by buying the dip.

“It’s just been unrelenting. We are now onboarding thousands of Australians a day who are looking to trade cryptocurrency. In the second half of last year we onboarded 40% more customers than we did the previous half, and in just the first six days of this year, we brought in 16% of last year’s total.”

Stated Bowler for Business Insider Australia.

Aussie Businesses Among The Most Crypto-friendly

Similarly, the number of businesses in Australia embracing crypto grew considerably by the end of 2020, with an increase of 94% globally. According to Stex Exchange, Australia is currently the third country with the most crypto-friendly businesses, with more than 700 places accepting crypto payments.

Currently, Bitcoin is back on the US$35,000 resistance level, after suffering a price drop of almost -12% starting this week, from $US42k to 30k. Several Aussie analysts believe 2021 could set the bar higher for the crypto-market, with greater adoption of cryptocurrencies globally.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin

The Challenges of Crypto Adoption in Australia

Cryptocurrencies are taking a broader space in the media, with Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs —reaching levels of AU$52,000— and the cryptomarket now worth more than $1 trillion. With so much movement in the crypto space, BTC and Binance Australia recently landed in several Australian newspapers.

The adoption of crypto by the Aussie public grew considerably in 2020. On Wednesday, The Australian published an article by the market analyst David Rogers, addressing the issues Self Managed Super Funds face with crypto investments.

In the news piece, Rogers, together with analysts from the SMFS funds, stated that the problems of setting crypto with SMSFs do not rely on legislation but their usefulness. Two issues for SMFS auditors are Proof of Ownership and Proof of Value.

The auditor will need to be able to see something that verifies that your cryptocurrency holdings exist and have the value that you have placed on them and you haven’t just transferred the money to someone who says they’re selling you cryptocurrencies. It is these two problems, proof of ownership and proof of value that often cause problems with unusual assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Stated Meg Heffron, Heffron’s managing director.

The Growing Adoption Interest In Australia

Jeff Yew, CEO of Binance Australia, shared his thoughts with Cryptonews Australia about the future of cryptocurrencies for the country this year. Yew believes there will be an even broader adoption for digital assets this year by retailers and institutional investors:

I believe that this year, we will continue to see increased institutional adoption of Bitcoin as a reserve asset, which is likely to cause a supply squeeze of Bitcoin traded on the market, whilst its demand continues to rise. In Binance Australia, we have seen our SMSF and corporate user base growing 400% compared to the previous quarter.

But there still is a lack of education between the Aussie public when it comes to managing SMFS for cryptocurrencies, which why Yew plans to expand the reach of the Binance Masterclass this 2021 to facilitate the process. On the differences between this and the bull run of 2017, Yew added:

What has been significantly different this year to 2017 is that we’ve seen a massive increase in institutional interest in the asset class, more mature regulations, as well as safer and more convenient fiat on & off ramp bridges into digital currencies, offered by regulated exchanges like Binance Australia.

Aussie analysts like Mark Rodda agree that this year could bring exciting moments for the crypto market. By the end of 2020, Australia registered a record number of new crypto fintech companies with a 153 % growth. A positive sign of the expanding popularity of digital assets in the country.

I personally see Bitcoin as the money of the people, it’s money backed by maths instead of politics and bureaucracy, so it bears no biases to the millions of people using it. Some choose to use it as an alternative savings account, some see it as part of a well hedged asset portfolio, some use it as a currency. It acts as a check and balance to incautious fiscal planning by central banks, as people now have a choice to protect their wealth against inflation.

Stated Jeff Yew for Cryptonews Australia.