Author: Sam Town

Sam Town is a FinTech and Blockchain Journalist from Adelaide, Australia. I work with a broad spectrum of finance, technology, and blockchain businesses to deliver engaging, high-quality content across a range of topics. Areas of specialization include FinTech, blockchain, NeoBanks, crowdfunding, P2P lending, tax structuring & strategy, artificial intelligence, InsurTech, and finance IoT applications.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News

Aussie Banks Served With Blockchain Wake-Up Call by Work Economic Forum

The rapid evolution of the international financial ecosystem has resulted in a new wave of forward-leaning institutional organizations adopting a hybridized approach to finance technology, integrating blockchain and AI in order to create a new world of finance — and Aussie banks are paying close attention.

The World Economic Forum’s recently-published Future of AI and Automation in Financial Services report, released as a 200-page slide deck on Thursday, focuses solely on innovation and change within the financial ecosystem, and is set to significantly disrupt the way Australian banks do business.

Banks around the world, according to the World Economic Forum, are currently working closely with some of the largest providers of cloud computing power globally, leveraging decentralized processing power in order to accelerate data analytics and experiment with AI-drivel solutions.

The new competitive landscape emerging from the fintech ecosystem has already galvanized change within Australian finance — National Australia Bank is currently in discussions with Amazon Web Services, mirroring the actions of other banks around the world such as Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Citibank, who have teamed up with Google, IBM, and Microsoft respectively.

Blockchain, AI, Cloud Computing Set to Rearrange Australian Finance

Cloud computing and blockchain technology, paired with artificial intelligence services creates unique use cases that are highly attractive to large-scale banking enterprises. Dynamic cash flow assessments, for example can support the gig economy, while integrated blockchain-enabled biometrics are a game changer for the insurance industry.

Arthur Calipo, operator of the lead financial service practice in Australia for Deloitte, highlighted the importance of adaptation for Australian financial platforms in statements released to the Australian Financial Review:

“It’s not so much about the threat of competition from Google, Apple and Amazon, but about these companies embedding themselves as enablers for financial institutions to increase value – and this points to the need to create alliances,” 

Members of Australia’s big five banks are taking the disruptive nature of fintech and blockchain seriously — IBM’s global head of cloud computing is scheduled to brief over 20 Australian banking and insurance sector executives on Friday 11th September regarding advanced automation, blockchain, and AI in the banking sector at a Trans-Tasman Business Circle event.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News

Aussie Microcaps Create Blockchain Solutions to Track COVID Cure

The international race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 ahead of potential national rollouts has involved hundreds of pharmaceutical companies around the world — including Australian blood products enterprise CSL.

A number of Aussie tech companies are taking vaccination efforts further, developing the blockchain-powered infrastructure that will handle distribution.

Blockchain technology has a critical role to play in the fight against COVID. The immutable nature of blockchain technology allows supply chain enterprises to track the distribution of vaccines on decentralized ledgers, ensuring that all vaccines are delivered free from tampering and tracked from manufacture to administration.

Security Matters, a publicly traded Australian company, is currently developing a chemical-based hidden barcode system that works in tandem with unique reader technology, supported by blockchain architecture. 

Tracking COVID Vaccines on the Blockchain

The Security Matters supply chain tracking and quality assurance platform focuses on creating a physical to digital twin for tracked products, and is currently working on an application that will mark pharmaceutical products — including the COVID vaccine — with blockchain-tracked codes. 

Security Matters CEO Haggai Alon highlighted the ability of the blockchain-enabled tracking platform to assist in the distribution of pharmaceuticals in interview statements:

“We have been consulting with a number of major drug companies on how our application can benefit the sector amidst so much uncertainty,”

The pharmaceutical tracking application, set to launch in 2021, could potentially streamline the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Australia — but Security Matters isn’t the only platform focused on leveraging blockchain technology in the fight against Coronavirus. 

The APAC Provenance Council, for example, is currently working with VeChain in order to integrate blockchain technology into the food supply chain in order to promote COVID-proof food distribution.

Categories
Australia Blockchain China

Australian Blockchain Startup Wins Australia’s Biggest Design Award

The results of Australia’s Peak most prestigious international design award — the Good Design Award — have been announced, with Aussie blockchain startup Beefledger taking home the Good Design 2020 Award in two categories. 

BeefLedger is primarily focused on streamlining transactions in the beef supply chain industry, offering blockchain-based solutions that track Aussie beef throughout the international supply chain. The platform won recognition in Good Design’s Commercial Services category for the award, with Good Design noting the “outstanding design” and innovation offered by BeefLedger.

The BeefLedger platform primarily focuses on reducing the $40 billion dollars in fraud that occurs annually within the Australian food supply chain, using blockchain-enabled beef provenance tracking and a blockchain-powered credentialing platform in order to minimize fraud and falsely labeled products.

BeefLedger Gets Aussie Farmers Paid Faster

Notably, BeefLedger incorporates smart contracts into an international cross-border payments platform that streamlines the international export and payment within the Australian beef industry, minimizing administrative friction and helping Aussie farmers get paid faster.

Judges presiding over the 2020 Good Design Awards highlighted BeefLedger’s innovative approach, focusing on the platform’s forward-leaning incorporation of decentralized solutions:

“A strong design combining mature approaches with newly developed blockchain technologies for an elegantly simple result. It’s a great example that demonstrates the intersection of data and design.”

By integrating blockchain technology into the Australian beef export supply chain, BeefLEdger embeds authentic regional data into the packaging and credentials provided to consumers that purchase Aussie beef in China, connecting multiple stakeholders in the supply chain for mutual benefit.

Categories
Australia Crypto Debit Cards Crypto Exchange Crypto News

CEX.IO Exchange Announces Crypto-Backed Lending Platform Launch in Australia

CEX.IO, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has announced the impending launch of a new cryptocurrency-backed loans service that will allow Australian crypto traders and holders to take out instant cash loans for their cryptocurrency assets.

Announced September 7, the new crypto loans service will become available in 217 countries around the world, including Australia, the United Kingdom, EU, and a range of Asian countries. CEX.IO LOAN will provide crypto users with the ability to borrow capital against their cryptocurrency holdings without the need for credit checks. 

$10 Billion Crypto Backed Loans Market Explodes in Australia

Data published by Credmark via Forbes reveals that crypto-backed lending is rapidly becoming one of the largest lending mechanisms in the blockchain ecosystem, with the crypto lending market reaching $8 billion in total lifetime loan originations by the end of 2019. The market has exploded in 2020, capturing another $2 billion by Q3 2020.

Crypto backed loans are relatively straightforward — users lock up their cryptocurrency with a loan provider, and are provided with a specific percentage of the assets locked as the loan principal. Recent changes to the tax treatment of cryptocurrency around the world have made crypto backed loans highly popular, as under specific international tax laws or in some scenarios a crypto loan allows users to access cash without creating a taxable event.

CEX.IO will provide users with the ability to borrow between $500 and $500,000, with larger and longer duration loans providing more attractive interest terms. Anton Chashchin, Commercial Director for the CEX.IO LOAN service, highlighted the various benefits of the crypto loans in a September 7 press release:

“Our clients are a vibrant and diverse group of market participants, whose needs evolve with the industry … Our loans offer that extra boost, which traders, investors, startups, and entrepreneurs in general, need, while they can still benefit from the potential appreciation of assets they own,”

Notably, CEX.IO will make loan funds available via a card — delivering additional crypto card functionality not yet seen in the crypto backed loans ecosystem.

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Australia Blockchain Regulation

Australian Fintech Committee Report Reveals Bullish Government Position on Blockchain

A new interim report published by Australia’s Select Committee on Financial Technology (FinTech) and Regulatory Technology (RegTech) reveals new insights into the Australian Government’s position on the future of blockchain and fintech.

The report, published one year after the creation of the committee, focuses on the potential opportunities presented by blockchain technology, as well as the ways in which novel fintech and regtech solutions can help the financial sector overcome a range of different problems.

The Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology’s report acknowledges the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting a number of ways through which the innovative application of various decentralized technology use cases can assist Australia in moving through the pandemic crisis.

Notably, the report presents a number of use cases of blockchain technology, such as virtual signing and witnessing of legal documents or the potential for decentralized regtech platforms focused on digital identity in government agencies.

Blockchain Industry Value Headed Toward $3 Trillion

Australia’s Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology has been presented with a broad spectrum of information with which to create regulatory guidance, leveraging the knowledge of established Australian blockchain and fintech innovators during hearings.  

Within specific committee hearings, Michael Bacina, Partner of both Fintech Group and Blockchain Group, provided the committee with estimates that the international blockchain technology industry could be worth over  $175 billion annually within five years and $3 trillion by 2030.

Other insights presented by the report include criticism of the current regulatory approach governing the fintech and blockchain startup ecosystem, noting that the current regulatory environment is “outdated” and in many cases contradictory. With Australian fintech and blockchain startups now capturing hundreds of millions in VC investment around the country, the Australian government is actively pursuing startup-friendly approaches within the scope of the Australian blockchain roadmap in order to promote innovation and development within the nascent Aussie blockchain ecosystem.

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Australia Blockchain Commodities

Australian Food & Wine Supply Chain Combats Fraud with Blockchain Tech

Australian Government and supply chain industry experts are pushing blockchain technology as a solution to widespread fraud in the food and wine industry, which currently costs Aussie businesses over $1.7 billion every year.

New collaborative efforts between the Australian Government, blockchain roadmap working groups, and supply chain industry experts has seen government officials advocate for the use of blockchain in eliminating fraud within one of Australia’s most profitable produce and export sectors. 

An online panel discussion on September 4, moderated by Blockchain Australia deputy chair Rob Allen, saw over 150 industry and government attendees meet to discuss potential use cases of blockchain technology in order to combat widespread fraud throughout multiple industries. 

Blockchain technology holds the potential to establish an immutable provenance chain by tokenizing and tracking every Australian-made product. Provenance fraud is widespread both within Australia and throughout export markets, with Australian agricultural businesses struggling to ensure that their products can be verified internationally. 

Blockchains Set to Lock Down Supply Chains

Speaking at the online forum, Department of Industry National Blockchain Lead Chloe White highlighted the importance of blockchain technology in minimizing the $1.7 billion annual cost of agricultural product provenance fraud. 

AgTech Capital AL Fullerton reinforced White’s perspective on blockchain implementation from a private sector position, noting that blockchain can be used in product authentication in order to prevent the spread of forged paper certificates. 

Investigative reports published by Food Innovation Australia indicates that food fraud costs the global food industry over $50 billion every year — 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, the online panel also hosted the announcement of Australia’s first blockchain-based Cooperative Research Center, which has raised over $60 million in order to push blockchain adoption through Australian startups.

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Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Payments

Coca-Cola Amatil Invests in Centrapay to Make Contactless Crypto Payments a Reality

International beverage giant Coca Cola Amatil has announced an expansion of its current partnership with New Zealand and Australia-based payment processor Centrapay, investing in the platform’s recent seed funding round.

Amatil X, Coca Cola’s corporate venture capital fund, announced a minority investment in Centrapay’s seed funding round on Thursday. The Centrapay platform, which currently provides services to companies that include KFC, Carlton Draught, and BP, secured an investment from Amatil X in order to fuel a new initiative that will expand the platform’s payment capacities. 

Coca-Cola Amatil launched a corporate partnership with Centrapay earlier this year that brought cryptocurrency payment options to thousands of vending machines around Australia and New Zealand. Centrapay’s new funding round and investment from Amatil X will see the platform expand into contactless fiat currency payments, gift cards, and vouchers. 

While Centrapay has not yet announced any plans to integrate cryptocurrency payments into the new contactless payment options under developments, the new services offered will allow Centrapay Wallet users to send fiat or any other supported payments in the same manner as a text message — potentially including cryptocurrency payments.

Centrapay Focuses on Pushing Digital Currency Adoption

Centrapay CEO Jerome Faury highlighted the importance of bringing new payment options to market, notably referencing “programmable” money — reflecting the functionality offered by smart contract enabled cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum:

“The global money supply is evolving rapidly with new economic models and the advent of smart, programmable money. The way we exchange value is set to change dramatically. There’s more change likely in the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the past 100.”

Faury also stressed the core focus of the Centrapay platform as a means to push adoption of digital currency, noting that Centrapay is focused on playing a “pioneering role in driving acceptance of digital assets with merchants.”

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law

Self-Proclaimed Aussie Bitcoin Inventor Craig Wright Files Libel Suit Against Roger Ver — Again

Early blockchain developer and self-professed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright has unleashed a series of defamation suits against notable blockchain and cryptocurrency thought leaders, including a new libel suit against Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver.

Wright’s latest defamation suit spree follows a 2019 effort in which the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin filed an unsuccessful defamation suit against Ver in May 2019. The latest defamation suit, filed on August 25, has been filed with the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda.

Official defamation claim documents published by Coingeek indicate that Wright is pursuing legal action against Ver based on allegations made by Ver that Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. The filing specifically refers to a 2019 video published by Ver, which included specific statements that Wright is not the true creator of the Bitcoin network:

“Craig Wright is a liar and a fraud. So sue me. Again.”

The filing also includes several other publications and references made by Ver directed at Wright, including “Faketosh, claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto when you are not. Craig Wright is a cockwombling bunglec*nt Faketoshi”

Defamation Suit Filed in Antigua and Barbuda

Wright’s defamation claim is focused on obtaining an injunction that will prevent Ver from publishing or publicly stating similarly defamatory allegations via various social media platforms in addition to aggravated damages and costs.

Previous defamation suits served to Ver by Wright have been filed in the High Court of England and Wales, which focused on YouTube videos posted by Wright in May 2019. The High Court of England dismissed the claim in July 2019, stating that the suit does not fall in the jurisdiction of the UK.

Wright’s new suit is filed in Antigua and Barbuda — both Wright and Ver are citizens of the West Indies sovereign state, potentially providing Wright with an advantage in pursuing his defamation claim.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Increasing Demand for Digital Wallets & Crypto as Australia Goes Cashless

Demand for digital banking solutions, contactless payment services, and cryptocurrency is rising rapidly in Australia, with cryptocurrency adoption at an all time high — accelerating the country toward a cashless future.

New “neobank” financial platforms have exploded into the Australian economic ecosystem, with platforms such as international digital bank and crypto trading app Revolut opening waiting lists and launching at full-scale throughout Australia. 

The rate at which Australians are integrating cashless payment solutions into daily life is accelerating, according to eftpos CEO Stephen Benton:

“Many Australians are choosing to use eftpos when paying with their mobiles, with eftpos mobile transactions growing more than 400 percent year on year in July 2020 across all supported mobile ecosystems,” 

While contactless solutions provided by card payments are currently the most popular way to pay for goods and services in Australia, services such as Apple Pay, Afterpay, Revolut, Transferwise, and other digital wallets are creating a payment ecosystem in which Australians are more likely to use digital payments than ever before. 

The high speed at which Australians are taking advantage of digital payment platforms reflects the accelerated rate at which cryptocurrency usage is becoming mainstream. Australians can now purchase Bitcoin at post offices around the country, trading over $5 billion in cryptocurrency every year. 

Crypto Adoption Speeds Up as Aus Gov Moves Towards Cash Ban

With the Australian legal system now recognizing cryptocurrency as a valid security for legal expenses, and homeowners now able to purchase or sell property with Bitcoin and other digital assets, cryptocurrency is quickly becoming an everyday method of value exchange —over 80 percent of the Australian population is now aware of what cryptocurrency is, with 1 in 100 Aussies paying for consumer goods with crypto.

New restrictions on the use of cash introduced in 2019 are set to limit the ways in which Australians are able to use cash, with the Australian government proposing a $10,000 limit on the amount of cash Australians are able to carry or use in a single transaction. 

With cryptocurrency awareness rising and the Australian government introducing regulatory structures that limit the ways in which consumers can carry or transfer cash, cryptocurrency offers Australians a viable alternative to fiat cash currency free from the restrictions associated with digital banking platforms.

Categories
Australia Cryptocurrency Law Ripple

Ripple Forced to Rebrand over Aussie PayID Litigation

An ongoing court case between New Payments Platform Australia and Global digital asset platform Ripple (XRP) has resulted in a forced Ripple rebrand in Australia, with courts delivering an injunction that will bring an end to Ripple’s plans to launch a “PayID” product in the country.

First reported on August 27, litigation brought forward by Australia-wide industry payment platform NPPA focused on a dispute between the New Payments Platform and Ripple over the use of the “PayID” brand in Australia.

NPPA already possesses a trademark in Australia for PayID, — Ripples new “PayID” system, launched in June 2020, operates a service in direct competition with NPPA. The NPPA’s PayID solution was launched in February 2018.

In litigation filing, NPPA claimed that Ripple’s new payment platform could negatively impact Australian consumers:

“The aim of this action is to protect Australian consumers and businesses from potential losses or scams that could arise as a result of confusion created from a payments service using the same name”

NPPA Hits Out at False Association With Ripple

NPPA also claimed within filing that Ripple was actively engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct, in breach of both the Australian Security and Investments Act and Australian Consumer Law. Notably, solicitors working with NPPA argued that Ripple had partnered with BTC Markets, Independent Reserve, and FlashFX — three Australian companies that, according to Ripple, mistakenly believed there was an association between NPPA and Ripple.

“There is evidence that each of these companies incorrectly believed there was an association between services offered by NPPA under the PayID trade mark and those offered by Ripple in using the PayID trade mark, when there is no such association”

A preliminary judgment granting leave to NPPA to pursue litigation has resulted in a forced rebrand of the Ripple product. Neil Murray SC, Council for Ripple, confirmed that the platform will pivot its brand direction:

“(Ripple’s) intention, again, without admissions, is to re-brand. Now the scope and timing of that is under consideration but it is … some priority. The hope is that this dispute will be resolved without too much contest in due course”

Ripple Forced to Rebrand

An interlocutory hearing on Friday 28th August confirms that Ripple pursued acceptance of an undertaking to rebrand PayID — NPPA refused the undertaking, seeking an injunction to restrict Ripple from offering services using the PayID brand. The court accepted the request for an injunction, ordering Ripple to cease the use of the PayID brand. 

Market response to the court case saw XRP/USD fall 4 percent on Thursday 27th August, recapturing 2 percent as part of a larger market spike.