Category: Australia

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Australia Crime Cryptocurrency Law Facebook Scams Social media

Australian Consumer Watchdog Sues Meta Over Crypto Scam Ads

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced it will be suing Meta over the company’s failure to block crypto scam advertisements involving Australian public figures that are in breach of Australian consumer law.

person holding silver iphone 6 https://unsplash.com/photos/iurEAyYyU_c
ACCC takes action against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram. Source: ABC

False Endorsements of Crypto Investments

Dick Smith, David Koch and Andrew Forrest are some of the prominent Australian personalities unwittingly involved in a series of crypto scam ads circulating on Facebook. The ads claim that the featured celebrities have hugely benefited from cryptocurrency investments, then direct users to scam websites on the strength of these false endorsements.

The consumer watchdog believes that Meta is not doing enough to prevent the circulation of these ads on both Facebook and Instagram. The personalities in the ads have not given any permission for their names and faces to be used in the money-making schemes, and users who have engaged with this material have reportedly been the victims of intense pressure tactics, including phone calls asking for funds.

Rod Sims, the ACCC’s chair, outlined his disappointment with Meta’s lack of action and solutions in a March 18 media release:

https://www.accc.gov.au/media/image-library

Meta should have been doing more to detect and then remove false or misleading ads on Facebook, to prevent consumers from falling victim to ruthless scammers.

ACCC chair Rod Sims

Sims stated that in one circumstance an individual consumer lost A$650,000 to one of these scams. The ACCC will be seeking injunctions, penalties, declarations, costs, and other orders from Meta to ensure the practice does not continue.

Australia Cracks Down on Crypto Scams

News of the ACCC’s legal action against Meta follows an investigation into how Australians lost over A$70 million in 2021 through investment scams alone.

Scamwatch reported in July last year that investment scams involving cryptocurrency and other digital assets were on the rise. Other prominent fraud-related practices have included romance scams, personal identity theft and illegal crypto mining.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Crypto Art NFTs

Australian Indigenous Yolngu Artists Are Entering the NFT Space 

Indigenous Australian artists are digitising their work as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to create a new stream of income and share their art on a global marketplace.

Artists from the Yolngu nation in the secluded East Arnhem Land of northern Australia are world-renowned for their drawings connected to nature. For the first time, these artists are venturing into the crypto space by minting their artworks as NFTs.

According to Chainalysis, US$44.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency was sent to ERC-721 and ERC-1155 contracts in 2021 – the typical NFT standards on Solana and Ethereum – and these Australian artists will be accessing a piece of the pie. Blockchain technology will also aid with the copyright of artworks from their community as well as create a new stream of income for local artists.

Preserving Indigenous Art and Culture with Blockchain

The project is being funded by venture capitalist Mark Carnegie and artists from the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka art centre in Yirrkala who will be creating NFTs. The bark paintings of one of the artists, Wukun Wanambi, have been sold all over the world. “I like to try new things, a new way of sharing art to the world,” says Wanambi, whose digitised artworks now being sold online.

Yolngu artist Ishmael Marika. Source: abc.net.au

These works can also be digitally stored and preserved for future generations to appreciate. One of the goals of the project, according to Joseph Brady, the art centre’s Mulka Project director, is to buy more physical work so it can remain in the Yolngu community.

If enough of these are sold, Mulka’s portion of that will go to buying that piece for the museum here […] So the work will stay here at the museum within the community.

Joseph Brady, director, Mulka Project

Sharing Culture

Ishmael Marika, one of the younger accomplished Yolngu artists, hopes that digitising his art will help protect it against forgery and become an asset he can monetise. “We want more of my clan and our tribes to show themselves to the world, so the world can see [us] and carry on our stories,” Marika says.

What is the Yolngu Art Culture? 

The art the Yolngu make represents their clan and all of nature. It is a unique part of their culture, which is why these artists are opting for NFTs. The use case for NFTs as a method to preserve indigenous art and knowledge over a decentralised network makes it a resilient method to keep safe the world’s cultural information.

The designs used by Yolngu artists, whether on paper, bark, ḻarrakitj (hollow logs), or on the body in ceremonial mode, reflect each artist’s clan and country. They are an expression of connection to family, country and to the Wangarr, or period of ancestral creativity. To learn more about the Yolngu art practice, click here.

Last month, the Aboriginal Yidindji Nation launched its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), making it the first indigenous nation on the Australian continent to become fully digitised.

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Australia Gaming NFTs Play to Earn

Survey Finds 32% Would Quit Their Job to Play NFT Games Full-Time

A new survey conducted by Balthazar, an Australian NFT gaming company, has found that one in three people would be willing to quit their job if NFT games could allow them to work full-time as gamers.

At least 32 percent of the survey’s 1,103 respondents – predominantly from the Philippines – said they would engage full-time in NFT games if they allowed them to earn the same as, or more than, their current jobs.

Balthazar CEO John Stefanidis says he isn’t surprised by the survey’s findings:

[Gamers] love play-to-earn games and many are ready to quit their other jobs to play NFT games instead, as they could potentially be earning the same, if not more, from playing NFT games.

John Stefanidis, CEO, Balthazar

However, the majority of respondents believe the P2E ecosystem is still in its infancy and is not mature enough to provide them with an adequate income. Over two-thirds said they would need to earn between US$1 to $20 per day (those who have jobs in the Philippines earn an average US$316 per month, or about US$16 per workday) to play NFT games full-time.

Other respondents said they could just play NFT games while keeping their jobs. Some, however, can’t afford NFT assets to even start playing, the reason why Balthazar offers scholarships for its users.

P2E Disrupting the Games Industry

The rise of non-fungible token video games has provided gamers with an opportunity to earn a passive income, thanks to the P2E (Play-to-Earn) model implemented by popular titles such as Axie Infinity.

With the rise of NFT games, a new inducement to engage newcomers to the space is via scholarships, basically a practice where owners of NFTs transfer their assets to new players who don’t own any of their own to play for them and receive a percentage of the earnings. This became a popular method within the Axie Infinity community:

We believe that play-to-earn games will be the biggest disruptor in the crypto space this year, as well as the video game industry, as more gaming companies, crypto holders and traditional investors are investing in the space.

John Stefanidis, CEO, Balthazar

However, it seems some are not happy with the rise of the NFT and P2E industries, tagging them as creators of “bullshit jobs” – a term coined by American anthropologist David Graeber whose 2018 book of the same name analyses the societal harm of meaningless jobs.

By way of perspective, a report published by the Blockchain Game Alliance in December showed that NFT games generated US$2.3 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2021 alone, and generally saw remarkable growth throughout the year.

Categories
Australia Crypto News DeFi Synthetix

Australia’s ‘Block Earner’ Raises $6.5 Million to Bring DeFi to the Masses

As part of its plan to bring DeFi to the masses, Sydney-based blockchain-powered fintech company Block Earner has made some key hires as it readies itself for launch later this month.

Among the key appointments are:

  • Apurva Chiranewala, a former eBay and Sendle executive, as general manager, tasked with overseeing global operations, growth, and strategic partnerships;
  • former Tyro Payments and Capify Australia marketing head Colin Williamson, as head of digital and growth;
  • Tawanda Mangere as head of risk and compliance; and
  • Baris Yilmaz as head of finance.

According to Chiranewala, “I have seen very few financial services companies that have the potential to positively impact human life quite like Block Earner.” He added that the company is a rare start-up with “capability, vision, and backing to shake up the financial industry in Australia, which is ripe for disruption.”

Making High Yields More Accessible

Block Earner, a Synthetix-backed platform best illustrated as a bridge between traditional finance and decentralised finance, has the goal of making high yields of DeFi more accessible to everyday Australians. The company wants to solve issues of adoption by channeling high-yield investments in DeFi into an easy-flowing, accessible process for anyone, regardless of how clued up they are in the crypto space.

In December 2021, Block Earner managed to raise US$6.4 million in a seed round of funding and claims its yields will generate 7 percent fixed annual yield or variable returns from 2-18 percent.

Potential earnings with Block Earner. Source: Block Earner

The funding round was led by American VC firm Framework Nentures, along with Coinbase, DeFi Alliance, Longhash Ventures, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, Avalanche’s Emin Gün Sire and AAVE founder Stani Kulechov. Block Earner will generate returns using the stablecoin USDC and DeFi lending and borrowing protocols Aave and Compound.

No Lock-Ups to Contend With

Holders of a Block Earner Yield Account can choose between the aforementioned return rates, which are USD-based yield on funds deposited. Through the entire life of the holder’s account, users will have constant access to both their capital and yield, meaning they can withdraw at any time with no lock-up period to contend with.

Aussies Successfully Raise Capital

While Block Earner’s seed funding round generated US$6.5 million, others have raised even more impressive amounts of late. Australia’s Immutable X successfully raised US$200 million, pushing the company’s valuation up to US$2.5 billion. Also, Aussie NFT project ‘SolChicks’ managed to raise A$77 million is just six months.

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Australia Cryptocurrency Law Investing Regulation

Australian Insurers Include ‘Crypto-Asset Exclusions’ in their AFSL Policies

Australian insurance providers have begun including specific crypto-asset exclusions in their professional indemnity coverage for financial services licensees, despite a growing demand for informed crypto investment advice.

According to Jared Timms from PNO Insurance, many insurers have felt the need to clarify their stance on crypto-assets and may soon update their policies accordingly. He stated in a recent blog: 

Having spoken to the major insurers of AFS licensees, the feedback has been there is no intention to cover advice from financial planners around cryptocurrency and it is likely specific exclusions may soon start to appear on Financial Planning PI policies. 

Jared Timms, senior account manager, PNO Insurance

Timms warns: “Any financial planner considering recommending investments into cryptocurrency should think about the uninsured risk they are potentially exposing to their business.” 

Insurance and regulatory roadblocks were key topics of discussion at the Professional Planner’s Researcher Forum in Sydney last week, where some financial services firms expressed an openness to adopting digital assets. 

What Does It Mean For Crypto Investors?

Insurance industry caution indicates that financial advisers covered by these policies cannot include crypto-assets in their approved product list and therefore cannot provide any advice on these assets without exposing themselves to significant risk. 

For now, crypto investors looking for advice will generally have to continue to look somewhere other than to qualified financial advisers. Despite this, crypto in Australia continues its slow march toward legitimacy. 

Recent news such as the CommBank offering crypto services to its customers, the announcement of the first Australian Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and the CEO of the ASX predicting that crypto companies will soon start to play a bigger role in Australia’s tech sector all indicate crypto is gaining ground.

Interestingly, this lack of insurance cover for advice on crypto-assets now leaves some organisations, such as CommBank, in the potentially awkward position of offering investment products on which they cannot provide any advice.

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Australia Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Investing Real Estate

How Crypto Helped a 23-Year-Old Aussie Climb the Property Ladder

A 2021 survey conducted by international cryptocurrency exchange Kraken found that 40 percent of Australian millennials preferred investing in digital assets over real estate.

Now a 23-year-old university graduate from Brisbane, Queensland has brought both elements together by using cryptocurrency to break into the city’s soaring property market.

Economics graduate and new homeowner Loi Nguyen. Source: news.com.au

Loi Nguyen first started investing in crypto in 2017 during his second year of an economics degree. After graduating from high school he had worked full-time as a bank teller for a gap year on a miserly salary of just A$28,000. But the best economic lesson he learned in that time came from observing his customers in the bank.

“I saw people being diligent with their savings and also saw people being very reckless,” Nguyen said. “You had people consistently putting savings away every week and others putting stuff on the stock market.”

Starts With ‘a Couple of Hundred Bucks’ Worth’ of Crypto

Nguyen augmented his own meagre savings by investing in stocks and cryptocurrencies, buying “a couple of hundred bucks’ worth” of bitcoin and ethereum in 2017. When the crypto market crashed a year later, he thought he’d done his money.

Crypto came back into my life when I learned about inflation at uni, and how bitcoin could be disinflationary. I was earning less than half a per cent on my savings account at the bank and wanted to protect my purchasing power … I knew I had to be smart, otherwise I would never break into the property market.

Loi Nguyen, economics graduate and new homeowner

When Covid-19 hit in 2020, crypto started to pick up again as panic hit more traditional markets. Nguyen spent an estimated A$18,000 over the ensuing months until he owned an entire bitcoin, then continued to invest in BTC and ETH.

The one-bedroom apartment Nguyen bought using crypto. Source: news.com.au

Before purchasing his one-bedroom inner-city apartment this year for A$430,000, Nguyen cashed out A$43,000 in cryptocurrency, less than half his overall portfolio, for the deposit on a home loan.

I’ve always wanted to own my own property and to be able live in it. Cryptocurrency allowed me to do that earlier.

Loi Nguyen, economics graduate and new homeowner

Crypto Millennials Aim to Retire at 50

According to a survey conducted by Pearler last May, a “significant number” of Australian millennials intend to retire at the age of 50 using their investments in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and cryptocurrencies. Nguyen is one such millennial who seems well on the way.

Categories
Australia Blockchain

Australian BeefLedger Blockchain Goes Into Administration

BeefLedger, a popular Australian blockchain provider in the red meat market, has been placed into administration, according to a spokesperson for the company.

BeefLedger to ‘Realign’ Its Organisation

David Clout and Associates, a Brisbane-based boutique firm of insolvency accountants, was reportedly appointed liquidator on February 28 and has already commenced investigations into the company’s affairs.

The company didn’t provide detailed reasons as to why it decided to enter administration. “Formalising the process is the appropriate way for us to complete an internal consolidation and reorganisation to align with strategic priorities”, reads BeefLedger’s official statement.

What Did BeefLedger Aim to Do?

The people behind BeefLedger intended to bolster beef exports by using blockchain technology to track and verify the authenticity of Australian beef on overseas markets, especially in China.

Customers could access the data history and provenance of a meat product by simply scanning its QR code.

BeefLedger executives (L-R) Marcus Sweeney (CIO); director Charles Turner-Morris, CEO Tony Clark and chairman Warwick Powell.
Source: MHD Supply Chain

The platform launched its own utility token in 2018. The BEEF token powered its blockchain and provided users with access to provenance data, sales history, consumer feedback and more.

Throughout 2018, BeefLedger garnered numerous investors and received grants to help develop the organisation. It also partnered with Queensland University of Technology to initiate in-depth market research, focusing on China.

However, it appears the demand for a blockchain-based platform to track the provenance of Australian meat wasn’t necessarily warranted. Many exporters have suggested that BeefLedger’s claims actually hurt the Australian industry’s reputation.

Agtech [agricultural technology] companies had to undertake enormous supply chain research to ensure what they were developing met a genuine need. Simply inventing something and telling farmers and processors they needed it would always be unsuccessful.

Beef marketers lobby group
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Australia Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs Regulation

NFTs ‘Inadvertently’ Taxed, Says Australian Senator During Sydney Art Exhibition

Australia is preparing policy ahead of the federal election in May focusing on clearer rules for digital assets and artists. Policy specifically relating to NFTs needed to be implemented quickly to stave off a potential “brain drain” on Australia’s economy, according to NSW Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg.

Tax Restructuring Sorely Needed

Senator Bragg, speaking this week at Sydney’s inaugural 3D art NFT exhibition, Satellite, said the country needed to hear from artists on the best way forward for digital asset regulation. Tax restructuring was sorely needed to counter local firms looking to establish themselves in more favourable jurisdictions overseas, including in Singapore and the UK, he added.

At the moment, I think there are cases where NFTs are being taxed inadvertently. There’s no real transfer of value. We want to make sure that we’re not doing that – we need to make sure we’re tax-competitive. Otherwise, why would you do business here?

NSW Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg

What Does the ATO Say?

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has provided broad guidelines on the tax treatment of NFTs. You pay tax according to the method that applies to your particular use case:

  • under the capital gains tax (CGT) regime;
  • on revenue account as trading stock;
  • as part of a business or profit-making scheme; or
  • depending on the terms of the NFT smart contract and the rights it grants, a combination of the above.

For most users who are buying or selling NFTs, crypto art assets are treated in the same manner as normal cryptocurrency as they fall under the same rules for capital gains. The following actions involving NFTs are considered disposals and will accordingly attract CGT:

  • selling NFTs in exchange for cryptocurrency;
  • exchanging one NFT for another NFT or fungible cryptocurrency; or
  • giving an NFT as a gift (unless it is to a tax-deductible entity such as an Australian charity).

Minting an NFT is generally not subject to tax. Only the disposal of an NFT (through sale, trade or bridging) constitutes a CGT event.  The exception is when the value of the asset the NFT was minted for has increased since the original purchase, which would constitute a CGT event in itself.

Last month, the ATO signalled its intention to apply more pressure on Australian crypto traders and investors this year, as cryptocurrencies become more popular among the general Aussie population.

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Australia Crypto Art NFTs

Sydney Plays Host to ‘Satellite’ International NFT Art Exhibition

Sydney, Australia’s largest city, is the first to host Satellite, a major international contemporary NFT art exhibition utilising and showcasing non-fungible token technology.

The event, taking place from March 10 to April 3 at beachside Bondi’s Twenty Twenty-Six Gallery, serves as an introduction to the world of digital art. Satellite aims to engage and educate the public on the fast-evolving NFT art movement through a digitally immersive and sensory experience. The exhibition is designed to empower artists in digital media and to inspire both existing and new audiences to embrace the evolution of the digital art world:

Exhibition Will Shape the NFT Space and Creative Economy

The Satellite audience will be invited to connect with NFTs beyond the screens of personal devices by using QR codes in the exhibition space that link to the NFT marketplace Foundation, where art can subsequently be bought.

The curator of the exhibition, David Porte Beckefeld, says the exhibition at a Sydney fine arts gallery is the fulfilment of his dream, but not so much in regard to anything relating to blockchain or tokens. Beckefeld has brought together over 40 NFT artworks from an array of leading Australian and international artists, thereby shaping the NFT space and creative economy.

Artists include Jonathan Zawada, Serwah Attafua, David McLeod, BossLogic, LIŔONA, Mikaela Stafford, Chris Golden, Jessica Ticchio, Yambo, Trevor Jones, and Beeple.

Satellite to be Carbon Neutral

The exhibition is committed to sustainability and will work to offset the carbon footprint of all NFTs included in the event, including carbon emissions associated with NFT minting, bidding, sale, and transfer of ownership. To compensate for emissions, Satellite will buy carbon credit units from Carbon Neutral’s reforestation project located in the Yarra Biodiversity Corridor of Western Australia.

For all other information about the exhibition, visit Satellite’s website.

Australia Leads in NFT Art Exhibitions

Last year was the year of the NFT. In June 2021, the art world launched Australia’s first physical NFT gallery exhibition. Hobart’s Museum of Art & Philosophy also launched the country’s first NFT gallery in the Tasmanian capital, where digital and traditional artists from all around the world could display their creations.

Australia auctioned off its most valuable photo collection as NFTs last year, after more than 100,000 original photographs dating back to the 1880s and spanning five generations were found in the home of a Melbourne family. The collection is said to be worth millions.

Australia is clearly an early adopter of NFTs and art, so it was surprising to read news of a survey in December 2021 that determined most Australians still have no idea about cryptos or NFTs.

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Australia Crypto News Surveys

Survey Reveals That More Than Half of Aussies Will Never Invest in Crypto

A survey by consumer insights provider Toluna has revealed that 52 percent of Australians have no interest or intention of ever investing in cryptocurrencies. The survey also found that 51 percent in the Asia-Pacific region believe that crypto is high-risk.

APAC had the highest perception of risk re crypto. Source: Toluna survey

Resistance to Crypto In Australia Highest in the World

Globally cryptos are met with resistance in that 43 percent perceive them to be a risky investment, with 40 percent citing lack of knowledge of the space as the main reason for hesitation. The survey however found that resistance to cryptocurrency in Australia is significantly higher than in the rest of the world and within the Asia-Pacific region.

Globally, 10 percent of survey respondents indicated they would never invest in the space and a whopping 20 percent of people in developed APAC (Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong) nations believed that digital currencies or assets were just hype. Fear of crypto’s associated risks seems to be the main reason for investment hesitation by 44 percent of Australians, while 34 percent cited their lack of understanding of digital assets. While the global average for lack of awareness of crypto is 61 percent, Australia sits at 65 percent.

Age Is a Key Factor

According to Toluna, “The study found that older respondents were more sceptical about crypto and regard it as ‘hype’, while younger respondents were more positive about crypto becoming a genuine currency in the long term.”

The study found that among Gen Z respondents, those aged between 18 and 24, 53 percent globally thought cryptocurrencies would take an upward trend over the long run, while 38 percent of Baby Boomers (aged 57-64) and 22 percent of Gen Xers (41-56) regarded digital assets as a bubble that would soon burst.

Crypto is clearly favoured by the younger generation. Source: Toluna survey

The results found by the study confirm an earlier survey reported by Crypto News Australia which found that only one in 10 Australians knows what a cryptocurrency is, with individuals older than 65 knowing even less. Gender also plays a role in terms of crypto knowledge. In Australia, around 21 percent of men claim to know something of worth regarding cryptos, while only seven percent of women do.

A ‘Global Crypto Awareness’ survey conducted last October compiled a list of the world’s top 10 crypto aware countries; Australia barely made the list, scoring only 3.77/10. Perhaps crypto education and a clear regulatory framework are needed to increase adoption in Australia.