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 Bitcoin Real Estate

Bitcoin Reenters Aussie Real Estate Market: Melbourne Property Goes on Sale for 70 BTC

A Victorian man has taken a bullish stance on the near future of Bitcoin — placing his Melbourne property on the property market for a quote of 67-73 BTC.

The Aussie property owner is offering a Reservoir house for a price that, at late July to August 2020 Bitcoin values, would see the property sold for between $850,000 to $950,000. Announced in a highlight published in the Herald Sun by Samantha Landy, the four-bedroom house, complete with a four car garage, pool, and “man cave” has been placed on the market by a vendor that considers Bitcoin “better than cash”

In an interview with the Herald Sun, the homeowner stated the opinion that now is a great time to accumulate Bitcoin:

“Bitcoin, tomorrow, could jump to $20,000. There is no other better asset class that has outperformed Bitcoin in the last 10 years”

Australian Bitcoin Real Estate Action Hints Toward 2017 Bull Run Repeat

Australia has maintained a crypto-friendly regulatory stance regarding the sale of property for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets. An Australian property sold in 2019 was the first property in the world to go under the hammer in first-ever cryptocurrency real estate auction.

The auctioned house sold for a massive 457 Bitcoin, amounting to over $2.4 million at April 2019 prices.

The increased adoption of Bitcoin in the real estate market hints at increasing trust in the digital asset. The recent surge in property sales focused on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies follows trends expressed in mid 2017, with market action hinting toward a repetition of the 2017 Bitcoin all-time high of $20,000.

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Australia Blockchain

Mastercard & Alibaba Join Forces with Blockchain Australia & VeChain to Track Aussie Food Exports

Global ecommerce giant Alibaba and international payment platform Mastercard have teamed up with Blockchain Australian in order to roll out a new VeChain-powered platform that will track Australian food and wine exports with blockchain technology.

Facilitated with the new APAC Provenance Council industry group, the new initiative will see the global tech giants team up to establish a new blockchain solution that will track, authenticate, and finance international exports sourced from Australian farmers.

Trade financing provided by Mastercard and Alipay will see Aussie farmers paid faster and earlier for the produce they create. The automated supply chain solution, powered by the VeChain blockchain, will be backed up by MasterCard Provenance. Mastercard’s blockchain solution will be used in a private, permissioned capacity in order to verify transactions for users.

Blockchain Supply Chain Initiative Targets Chinese Markets

The platform is primarily aimed at the $76 billion Chinese market, with APC co-founder David Inderias highlighting the importance of new technology focused on diversifying Australian food exports in the post-COVID market ecosystem:

“The overall theme of this is making more resilient export supply chains. One current complexity is COVID. The other is the economic and political trade circumstances, especially with China,’’

The APAC Provenance Council is the largest cross-continental doof supply chain and finance consortium operating in Australia, and is strongly supported by a range of industrial, government, and export bodies. The core founding members of the council include Australia Made, Blockchain Australia, VeChain, and FoodAgility CRC.

Operated by the Australian Government, the Food Agility Cooperative Research Center has recently captured the support of major enterprises such as Kelloggs, Mars, Coles, NAB, and IAG n funding a $10 million supply chain initiative focused on reinventing agribusiness supply chains. 

Categories
Australia Blockchain China

Australia Under Attack: 3 Major Data Breaches Reported Daily as Gov Turns to Blockchain Solution

Data published by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner reveals that Australia is subject to nearly three significant data breaches every day, with leading cybersecurity and blockchain experts referencing China as the cause of ongoing cyber attacks. 

The January – June 2020 Notifiable Data Breaches Report, published by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), places the total number of reported data breaches across Australia for the last financial year at over 1,000. 

The OAIC’s Notifiable Data Breaches scheme from which the data presented in the report tracks the occurrence of data breaches in which personal information is accessed or distributed without authorization. While many of the breaches in the report are attributable to human error, hundreds of the breaches occurring between 2019 and 2020 were executed by malicious or criminal actors.

Australian Health & Finance Sector Targeted, Bank Details Leaked

Data breaches reported in the report were executed by a variety of means, such as social engineering, storage device theft, insider threats, phishing, and malware. The majority of attacks executed in the last year were associated with malicious actors gaining access to user data through phishing attacks, closely followed by ransomware attacks.

The Australian health sector was the hardest hit by cyber attacks, accounting for over 10 percent of all data breaches, followed by the finance sector. The number of users affected by the breaches exceeds 10 million, with the contact information of 84 percent of affected individuals released along with home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses as well as passport numbers and license numbers.

Concerningly, data breaches reported to the OAIC in the same period contained tax file numbers, bank account details, credit card numbers, and health data.

Key Industry Experts Identify Blockchain as Solution to Cyber Threat

A panel discussion hosted on July 30 by recently appointed Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas saw blockchain specialists and experts from various sectors come together to discuss potential cyber security solutions to address the ongoing cyber threat faced by Australia. 

The panel, consisting of liberal Senator Andrew Bragg,  CyberCX CEO John Paitaridis,  National Blockchain Lead Chloe White from the Department of Industry, and several other speakers identified blockchain technology as a key driver in protecting Australia from future cyber attacks. 

During the panel, CyberCX CEO John Paitaridis noted that attacks directed toward Australia are increasing in frequency, and identified China as the primary actor executing cyberattacks against the country:

“In June this year, the Australian Prime Minister announced an ‘unnamed state actor’, you can read into that — China — as being targeting businesses and government agencies across Australia as part of a large, dedicated, persistent scale attack.”

Blockchain technology, stated Paitaridis, is able to prevent the manipulation of data after publishing, preventing data tampering and addressing the vulnerabilities that are currently exploited by malicious actors in cyber attacks.  

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Scams

Crypto Fraudsters Impersonate Dick Smith, Kochie to Push Bitcoin Scams

Is Dick Smith trying to sell you a Bitcoin investment scheme that has big banks terrified? Have you found Kochie’s secret crypto investment plan? If so, then you’ve spotted one of the latest strategies used by crypto scammers to separate you from your crypto capital — impersonating Australian celebrities to push crypto Ponzi schemes.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has recently published a warning directed at potential crypto investors, stating that Bitcoin scammers are now using the names of popular Australian celebrities, government agencies, and prominent news sites in order to legitimize scams. 

Some of the celebrity name based scams directed towards Aussie investors include scams purportedly supported by Waleed Aly, Mike Baird, Celeste Barber, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, David ‘Kochie’ Koch, Michael Rowland, Dick Smith, Karl Stefanovic and Virginia Trioli.

A report published by the ASIC on July 29 states that scammers are using fake celebrity endorsements to create fake websites, offering investors crypto trading bots that promise guaranteed profits. Other techniques used by scammers include “pump and dump” scams, in which scammers use a fake celebrity endorsement to artificially inflate the value of otherwise low-value cryptocurrency tokens.

While many of the offending scam sites are no longer live, it’s still possible to find many false celebrity endorsed crypto scams online today. Some scam platforms specifically identified by the ASIC include Bitcoin Evolution, Bitcoin Revolution and Bitcoin Trader.

No, Dick Smith Doesn’t Want to Share His Secret Crypto Strategy With You

Sites that claim to deliver profits using the names of celebrities such as Dick Smith remain online, promising unsuspecting investors access to “wealth loopholes” through a “secret investment” as illustrated below:

Dick Smith clarified his position on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments earlier this year via Twitter, stating in no uncertain terms that Dick Smith does not, in any way, endorse crypto investing.

With crypto scams capturing more than $4 billion in 2019, performing due diligence and extensive research on any crypto product before getting involved is more important than ever. ASIC notes that, once lost to scammers, crypto is virtually impossible to recover:

“Fraudsters are often based overseas and so are their scam websites, which makes them notoriously difficult to close down. It also makes it almost impossible to track, trace and recover lost money.”

Categories
Blockchain Gold Perth

Perth Mint Partners with ASX-Listed Company to Launch Blockchain-Based Gold Consortium

The Perth Mint, Australia’s official bullion mint, has announced a new project that will expand the scope of an existing partnership with Security Matters in order to launch a new “trueGold Consortium.”

The new Consortium will see the Perth Mint and Security Matters (SMX), who announced a partnership aimed at digitizing precious metal earlier this year, gain equal partnership in a project focused on ethical gold supply chain assurance based on blockchain technology.

TrueGold is a blockchain-based platform designed to track and trace the movement of gold throughout the supply chain process, allowing key stakeholders including jewelry industry leaders, financial institutions, and consumers to ensure gold is ethically sourced.

The TruGold project is aimed at the often difficult to track supply chain ecosystem of the precious metals industry, and is focused on providing greater trust in gold — a key commodity and economic hedge during economic and geopolitical turmoil.

Described as a “mine-to-marketplace ethical gold supply chain assurance” system, the TrueGold platform created by SMX and the Perth Mint will incentivize the sourcing of gold from conflict-free areas, as well as minimize transactional risk. 

The new consortium follows the launch of a new digitized gold token issued by the Perth Mint. The Perth Mint Gold Token was announced in October 2019, and claims the title of the world’s first digital gold token based on a public blockchain network backed by real gold guaranteed by the Australian government.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Industries

Australian Government Serves up $4mil in Grants, Supports Blockchain Food Tracing Startup

The Australian Government will distribute $4 million in funding to a variety of Australian tech startups and enterprises through the traceability grants program, providing blockchain-based farm-to-table supply chain systems with funding. 

The Department of Agriculture’s Traceability Grants Program, operating from  2019 to 2020 and 2022 to 2023, is aimed squarely at the Australian supply chain ecosystem and will see $7 million distributed across two rounds.

North Sydney-based blockchain startup FreshChain Systems is one of the first Aussie enterprises to receive an injection of capital from the grants program, and will use $195,000 in funding to launch a program that digitises end-to-end traceability in the agriculture sector.

The tech stack presented by FreshChain sits comfortably within the scope for the Australian Government’s Blockchain Roadmap. The FreshChain platform uses distributed ledger technology to create immutable provenance data for Australian food, providing traceability across the entire life cycle of food products.

Australian Blockchain Use Cases Expand Beyond Payments

In a press release published on July 27,  Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud noted the broad use cases of blockchain technology:

“FreshChain’s end-to-end traceability system has broad applications across all food, fibre and agricultural products for authentication, provenance, food safety and consumer engagement,”

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown has heightened consumer awareness of food provenance, creating fertile ground for the Sydney-based blockchain food tracing platform to grow. FreshChain is one of 16 Australian enterprises that will share in $4 million in funding under the first round of the Department of Agriculture’s Traceability Grants Program.

Categories
Australia Blockchain

Australian Dairy Farmers Bring Milk Onto the Blockchain

Image by ArtTower from Pixabay

Australian dairy farmers have penned a deal with the Australian government that will see blockchain technology introduced into the daily supply chain, aimed at balancing the relationship between dairy processors and retailers.

The Australian dairy industry has recently presented a difficult landscape to Australian dairy farmers, who have struggled through both drought and bushfires. Decreasing margins have caused ongoing problems for Aussie farmers, who are facing an increasingly complex agriculture supply chain ecosystem,.

Over the last 30 years, the number of agricultural enterprises in Australia have dropped from over 15,000 to just 5,000 in 2020, with Australia’s share of the international dairy industry falling from 16 percent to just 6 percent.

Aus Gov Backs Cow-Powered Blockchain Project

A new deal signed between the Australian Dairy Farmers industry group and the Australian government, however, may function as a means for Aussie dairy farmers to wrestle back control over their industry,

The new deal will see the Aus government work with the ADF to develop a real time payment platform linked to a blockchain-powdered supply chain information system, allowing farmers to sell milk based on distributed ledger technology.

Terry Richardson, the President of the ADF, noted the importance of supply chain provenance and the implications of blockchain technology in the Australian dairy industry earlier this month:

“The transparency of shared information using blockchain technology empowers our dairy farmers. Blockchain will reduce costs to compete more aggressively in local and global markets. It will also allow greater knowledge of what happens to a farmer’s milk once it leaves their farm, and will provide consumers with trusted information about where their milk comes from.”

Integrating blockchain in the Australian dairy supply chain allows farmers to leverage better transparency over dairy product provenance, providing consumers with the ability to discern between different brands and the implications of supporting small Australian agricultural businesses versus supermarket chains and large processors.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin Breaches $10,000 as Australia Faces Down Worst Inflation Numbers On Record

Australian investors appear hesitant to dive into traditional markets this week, anticipating the release of the worst inflation records on record — as Bitcoin breaks through the $10,000 ceiling, hinting at potential bull run.

The SPI futures index dropped 0.45 percent, or 27 points n Sunday, revealing a potential easing on the S&P/ASX200 for Monday morning. The benchmark equity index hovered near the 6,000 point position late last week, ending the week 1.16 percent down at 6,024 points.

Australian market movements mirror US and European movements, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.7 percent. 

Trepidation surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the Australian economy has seen both CBA and AMP capital forecast Australia’s consumer price index — a critical inflation benchmark — to drop two percent.

Inflation data in line with CBA and AMP Capital forecasting would represent the largest quarterly fall since inflation records began in 1948, taking the annual rate in a negative direction for the first time since 1997.

Digital Asset Markets Fire Up

While traditional markets may be taking a slow turn this last week, digital currency investors have displayed none of the hesitation present in their institutional counterparts. Bitcoin reached a two-month high of $10,135 at 10:05 UTC on Sunday, the highest value demonstrated by the crypto market leader since June 2.

The rapid price size saw Bitcoin capture 8 percent gains on a week to week basis. Similarly, Ethereum’s price skyrocketed to a 13-month high of over $300, reaching $319 early Friday afternoon. 

Categories
Australia Industries Scams

Australian Bitcoin Ransomware Wave Takes out Aussie TV Networks

The latest wave of ransomware cyber attacks on Australian businesses has reached the media industry, with leading media market research company Nielsen taken out by a suspected ransomware attack.

Ransomware attacks — harmful cyber attacks that infect individual computers or networks — typically encrypt critical files or restrict access to them, forcing users to pay the actors responsible in order to decrypt, or “unscramble” them.

In many cases, ransomware fees are demanded in the form of Bitcoin or privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero, which are more difficult to trace.

Australian in Top 10 Highest Targeted Countries 

Data published by cyber security firm Emisoft reveals that Australia is in the top ten countries most affected by ransomware attacks, with costs to Australian businesses and individuals estimated to exceed $1 billion.

Emisoft’s State of Ransomware report indicates that the average ransomware attack cost — spread between both individuals and companies — is $84,000, forcing companies to pay a high price for poorly secured data. More concerning data published by Gartner places the cost of ransomware attacks at $5,600 per minute globally, positioning ransomware as a very real threat to Aussie businesses.

The impact of ransomware on the Australian economy is accelerating — on July 23, global data company Nielson was targeted by a ransomware cyber attack that saw the platform’s daily television ratings release delayed for several days.

Aussie Businesses Targeted by Malicious “State-Based” Attacker

Nielson performs market research and audience measurement for Australian television platforms rating provider, OzTam, providing that even large-scale media giants aren’t immune to the threat of ransomware.

In a statement published subsequent to the attack, Nielsen highlighted the ransomware nature of the attack:

“Nielsen has become aware of an unexpected disruption relating to the Australian TV Audience Measurement (TAM) data centre environment. This disruption is derived from a ransomware attack in which Nielsen was the victim. As a result, TV ratings data remains unavailable.”The Australian Government recently published an advisory warning Australians of the tactics used by ransomware attacks — noting that the recent increase in cyberattacks is associated with a “sophisticated state-based actor”

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News Payments

Eftpos Announces Partnership with Hedera to Launch Aussie Dollar Stablecoin

Eftpos — Australia’s largest debit card system, has announced a partnership with blockchain platform Hedera Hashgraph that will see the point of sale tech provider execute micropayments with an AUD stablecoin.

In an announcement published on July 22, Hedera Hashgraph stated that it would begin collaborating with eftpost Payments Australia in order to launch a micropayments proof of concept.

The collaboration, based on an Australian dollar stablecoin, is designed to test a new blockchain-based payment system that will function as an alternative to online paywalls or subscriptions.

Stephen Benton, eftpos CEO, stated that the integration of Hedera technology is part of a new innovation strategy designed to streamline the micropayment process.

The eftpos platform, which executes over 2 billion transactions worth over $130 billion annually, is focused on stress testing the capabilities of a new AUD stablecoin powered by the Hedera Consensus Service.

The core functionality of the new collaborative platform will allow Aussie consumers to load wallets with small payments and use them to pay for online content in a seamless manner.

The Hedera platform is a decentralized blockchain network that allows users and enterprises to create fast, scalable applications.

Eftpos appears to be pushing into new tech platforms as part of a forward-leaning strategy, recently partnering with Australia post to deliver a digital identify solution in order to connect merchants and government services. 

While the new Hedera and eftpos collaboration won’t result in an AUD stablecoin hitting the crypto markets just yet, the rapid adoption of blockchain technology by Australian payment processors represents a significant step forward toward a blockchain-powered future.