Category: Australia

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Australia Crypto News NFTs Sports

Australia Going Crazy Over Sport NFT Trading Cards

Interest in Australian sports trading cards has surged and several businesses are hoping to cash in by offering famous sporting moments as NFTs.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been taking the crypto world by storm over the past 12 months, and it’s a trend that most exchanges are exploiting. Binance recently ran the ‘100 Creators’ campaign, which featured Australian artists, sports stars and musicians contributing work sold as NFTs. Crypto.com also recently launched its own NFT marketplace, featuring contributions from music and sports celebrities.

Lebron James’s slam dunk NFT sold for US$200,000
MomentPrice
LeBron James “Cosmic” Dunk$208,000
Zion Williamson “Holo MMXX” Block$100,000
LeBron James “From the Top” Block$100,000
LeBron James “Throwdowns” Dunk$100,000
LeBron James “Holo MMXX” Dunk$99,999
Steph Curry “Deck the Hoops” Handles$85,000
Giannis Antetokounmpo “Holo MMXX” Dunk$85,000
LeBron James “From the Top” Dunk$80,000
LeBron James “From the Top” Block$78,000
LeBron James “From the Top” Dunk$71,455
The 10 Biggest NBA Top Shot Sales to Date – Data from Cryptoslam.

Booming Market in Sport NFTs

The sports industry is the latest to join the NFT party. The NBA, English Premier League, Major League Baseball and the UFC are among some of the big associations to have taken up the NFT craze. Grand Slam tennis champion Andy Murray has also made his entry into the NFT world, auctioning off a number of his memorable Wimbledon moments, one of which sold for US$177,777 when he won Wimbledon in 2013.

Collectibles Craze In Australia

Australian companies such as Four Points Collectables and Sport Moments are aiming to bring the sports NFT market to Australia for sports such as NRL, AFL and Basketball.

We’re creating a platform specifically built for Australian sporting codes that creates NFTs and brings a new layer of engagement to Australian sporting fans.

Jacob Osborne, Sport Moments CEO
NRL Trading Cards by fourpointcollectables.com

Collectibles in general are experiencing a resurgence. David Miller, the man behind AFL Footy Cards, says the entire 2021 collection had sold out in June. Miller believes NFTs are “where the future will be”. He will be working with Sport Moments to offer AFL fans a new way to engage with their favourite sport.

Popular NRL players such as Ryan Papenhuyzen and Sandor Earl are getting involved in the trading cards action, as they collect and share them on their social media accounts.

Ryan Papenhuyzen Sharing NRL Trading Cards on Instagram

The Dark Side of NFTs

Everyone wants a slice of the NFT pie at the moment. The ability to prove ownership is a game changer and no doubt we’re only just scratching the surface of possible applications. However, despite all of the hype about NFTs, they have also received a lot of criticism, primarily around their environmental impact.

NFTs have also been criticised for perpetuating art theft rather than preventing it, which is ironic because the latter was one of the primary arguments promoted by early campaigners of NFT art.

The Future of NFTs is Uncertain

No one knows what the future holds for NFTs. They may prove to be a pivotal part of the next digital revolution or they may prove to be just another fad that fizzles out after a couple of years.

For more on how to buy, sell and transfer NFTs, check this recent story run by Crypto News Australia.

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Australia Bitcoin Crime Scams

Australian Bitcoin Romance Scam Victim Melanie Kilgour Sentenced to Six Months in Jail plus Community Service

Australian schoolteacher Melanie Kilgour, who became the victim of an online Bitcoin romance scam after misappropriating funds from her former employer in 2019, has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to fraud charges.

She is also subject to a two-year community corrections order, which includes 150 hours of unpaid community service, and was ordered to repay A$148,908.85 in restitution to her former employer, the Alexandra Community Hub in north-eastern Victoria.

Ms Kilgour pleaded guilty in March this year to charges of defrauding the ACH via multiple transactions. It was alleged that $50,000 was lent to a friend who failed to pay her back, and that an undisclosed sum was spent on repairs to Ms Kilgour’s house.

The court was told that the remainder of the funds had been sent in Bitcoin to an “overseas lover” in an apparent romance scam. The scammer cashed out the amount and later disappeared.

The fraud was detected when it was found Ms Kilgour had forged the signature of ACH director John Cannon.

Kilgour Gives Her Side of the Story

“I am gutted and extraordinarily remorseful for my actions in 2019,” Ms Kilgour wrote in a letter emailed to Crypto News Australia ahead of her sentencing on 1 July in the Victorian County Court. “I seem to have successfully smashed 30 years of achievements in a [relatively] short period of time. This has affected my mental health and put added pressure on my beloved parents, siblings, friends and colleagues, so I find it hard to forgive myself and [I] can never forget.”

Ms Kilgour was dealing with both her parents’ cancer illnesses, an abusive ex-husband, and an unscrupulous builder who was renovating her house when she found herself in a “lonely and vulnerable” position.

I have worked very hard all my life. I understand that one in four women fall victim to romance scams by people who prey on the lonely. Along with losing all of my own savings, I then took money from my employer, to my shame and horror, with no real understanding of the total amounts. My mental health at the time made me feel suicidal.

Melanie Kilgour

Forced To Step Down From New Job

Ms Kilgour found new employment in 2020 at Greater Shepparton Secondary College, also in rural Victoria, but fallout from her court appearance and subsequent negative publicity forced her to step down from the position.

I had never committed a crime before this time or re-offended since, and never will because I have to keep going to support my children and do what’s best for my family. I have suffered greatly and sacrificed a lot to do the right thing since I took the money. I just want the opportunity to be able to keep working hard to pay back my debt to society … with hope of a better future.

Melanie Kilgour

Australians lost over $850 million to scams in 2020, according to a report last month from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) also reported that in just three months last year (March-May), the rate of online romance scams involving cryptocurrency increased by 20 percent.

Please spend some time to learn about the Bitcoin scams going around and how to avoid becoming a victim.

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Australia Crypto Exchange Swyftx

Aussie Crypto Exchange Swyftx Releases New Crypto Swap Feature

One of Australia’s largest exchanges, Swyftx, now allows investors to swap one cryptocurrency for another without having to convert it to fiat first.

Swyftx announced the new ‘Swap’ feature on June 17, reminding its users that while the ability to directly swap cryptos would make their lives easier, fees would still apply and each swap would count as a taxable event.

The Swap feature works with any cryptos actively listed on the platform, enabling users to buy into new assets even when they don’t have fiat currency available in their account.

Swyftx has grown rapidly since its launch in 2017 – it now has over 300,000 users, hosts more than 260 assets, and has a monthly trading volume of A$2 billion.

How Does It Work?

Using the hypothetical scenario of wanting to exchange Bitcoin for some Ethereum, using Swyftx’s new Swap feature a trader can automatically execute a sell order for Bitcoin and a buy order for Ethereum simultaneously. 

Within the app, a trader follows these steps:

  1. Select the asset
  2. Click the Swap tab at the top of the page
  3. Type the $ amount that you want to exchange
  4. Select the asset you wish to swap it for from the dropdown; and
  5. Click Swap to confirm the order.

Focus on Customers Drives Innovation

Swyft’s founder, Alex Harper, has previously described the importance of customer support and product innovation to the popularity of the exchange.

Notable features brought to market in 2021 include a portfolio tracking feature that lets traders see their profit/loss status in real-time, and the ability to pay using credit/debit cards – becoming the first Australian exchange to do so.

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Australia Crypto News Investing Surveys

Report: 26% of Financial Advisers Will Recommend Crypto This Year

More than one in four financial advisers say they will recommend cryptocurrencies to their clients in the next year, according to just-published results of a survey commissioned in March.

Almost half (49 percent) of advisers said clients had inquired about investing in cryptocurrencies over the past six months.

Results of the 2021 Trends in Investing survey, conducted by the Journal of Financial Planning and the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and supported by Onramp Invest, were released this week.

Client Base Demands Knowledge, Access and Advice from Advisers

The FPA is the principal membership organisation for certified financial planners, professionals, educators and financial services professionals. Onramp Invest is a technology company providing access to crypto assets for registered investment advisers.

Onramp Invest CEO Tyrone Ross commented:

It is clear from these results that we’ve reached an inflection point in the wealth management space. Advisers are now faced with a client base that demands knowledge, access and advice from their adviser[s] on cryptoassets.

Tyrone Ross, Onramp Invest CEO

The survey received 529 responses from financial advisers of various backgrounds and business models. Cryptocurrencies were first added to the survey in 2018 when 1.4 percent of advisers indicated they were either using or recommending them to clients. That figure fell below 1 percent in 2019 and 2020 but jumped to 14 percent in 2021.

Survey results suggest that investors are concerned about the effect of tax reform on their portfolios, with 40 percent of advisers indicating clients had asked them about this topic, up from 27 percent in last year’s survey.

Youth Leads the Way in Crypto Investment

Last month’s CNBC Millionaire survey showed 47 percent of the world’s millennial millionaires have more than 25 percent of their wealth in crypto. The survey sampled 750 investors with at least US$1 million in investible assets, and indicated that more than a third of cashed-up millennials have at least half their wealth in crypto. Australian millennials are no different, as Crypto News Australia recently reported that this cohort is more interested in crypto than real estate.

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Australia Crypto News E-commerce

EFTPOS Australia to Use ConnectID to Verify Identity When You Pay

Move over KYC, connectID is here. Powered by EFTPOS, connectID is an identification hub for the entire Australian identity ecosystem. Think of it as an extension of Australia Post’s Digital iD app combined with your Digital Licence or Proof of Age card and loyalty points program all wrapped into one.

With online shopping and mobile payments part of everyday life nowadays, issues such as online fraud and identity theft have become a real headache for individuals, banks and businesses alike. The constant need to fill in forms and repeatedly upload personal information for proof of identity has only added to the pain. ConnectID aims to streamline the process, offering a neatly packaged one-stop-shop app with identity verification and KYC built in.

In Australia there is a real need to facilitate identity verification methods to help reduce instances of fraud and identity theft, and improve ‘digital trust’ between customers and vendors. We aim to seamlessly combine identity and payments transactions within the same flow and create even better customer experiences.

Rob Allen, EFTPOS ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’

Created with assistance from identity and authentication provider SecureKey, connectID is designed to work within the federal government’s Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) and the financial industry’s TrustID framework, as well as recognising emerging international standards in distributed digital identity credentials.

Benefits of connectID

  • Manage risk by knowing who you’re selling to
  • Protect yourself against fraudulent transactions
  • Gain customers’ trust with a simple, straightforward experience

EFTPOS says it is providing Australian businesses with a trusted, reliable and cost-effective infrastructure, ensuring all transactions flow quickly and easily through the Australia-based identity hub.

Financial Services, Online Stores and Government Departments to Adopt connectID

Powered by EFTPOS, ConnectID acts as the middleman to connect identity requesters such as financial services, online stores and government departments with every online identity issuer in Australia. Consumers and digital merchants will have secure, private, easy and trusted access to any identity provider in Australia.

Identity providers in turn will be able to offer an additional trust-based service to their customers and connectID enables each of them to talk to the others seamlessly.

Watch the video below to see how connectID works

As previously reported by Crypto News Australia, EFTPOS has also teamed up with Hedera Hashgraph blockchain to develop a micropayments proof-of-concept. This ultimately could lead to the deployment of blockchain technologies in running autonomous vehicles or powering smart cities.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Trading

ASIC’s New 46-Page Report Details Regulations Around Crypto Trading

Australia’s financial regulator has laid out guidelines relating to the inclusion of cryptos in exchange traded products (ETPs) and is seeking market participants’ input to shape its position within the regulatory landscape.

In a consultation paper published on June 30, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) set out a range of proposals around making crypto assets available to retail investors through licensed Australian markets. The paper covers whether cryptos are suitable for use as an underlying security in an ETP, how they’re categorised, pricing mechanisms, risk management, and other related issues.

The paper also noted that feedback will be used to adjust rules for local operators, to promote market integrity and to protect consumers:

We consider that crypto-asset ETPs have unique features and risks which need to be recognised by market operators and product issuers in performing their functions and meeting existing regulatory obligations. 

ASIC states that the only crypto assets likely to satisfy its expectations currently are Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, it expressed a willingness to collaborate with licensees to establish criteria to assess other crypto assets. 

Under this approach, market operators could determine that a particular crypto asset is an appropriate underlying asset for ETPs on their market. 

ASIC defines ETPs as open-ended investment products that are traded on a financial market and invest in, or give exposure to, various assets or asset classes. This covers exchange traded funds (ETFs), managed funds, and securities such as exchange traded commodities (ETCs) and exchange traded notes (ETNs).

ASIC Recognises Strong Interest in Aussie Crypto ETF, Seeks Public Comment

In Australia, we are aware of interest in, and demand for, domestic crypto-asset ETPs. However, we are also aware of the real risk of harm to consumers and markets if these products are not developed and operated properly.

ASIC is inviting public comment up until July 27, 2021. The regulator is especially keen to hear about the likely compliance costs, effects on competition and other impacts of its proposals, as well as ideas on alternative approaches. 

Comments should be sent by July 27 to [email protected] with the subject heading ‘CP 343 Submission – [Entity Name]’.

ASIC Takes Cautious Approach

ASIC has so far taken a cautious approach when it comes to crypto.

In February, the regulator came out to refute claims it had a policy to stop Bitcoin ETFs, with its commissioner explaining that with appropriate rules in place, such products could be made available in Australia.

ASIC has also been actively targeting scammers and adopting other regulations to improve consumer protections, including reducing CFD (Contracts for Difference) leveraged trading available to retail traders from 30:1 to 2:1.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News Industries

ASX’s New CHESS Platform Set to Enter Testing Phase This Year

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is updating its broker platform with blockchain-based technology. The upgraded CHESS system has been undergoing rigorous testing to ensure it can deal with the increasingly large sharemarket in Australia.

The Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) is essentially the ASX’s system for securing, settling and clearing the Australian AU$2.5 trillion sharemarket.

The Need For Blockchain Technology

The exchange started the replacement project in 2015 and selected Digital Asset as its technology partner in January 2016 to develop a prototype based on blockchain technology. The new system improves on the previous one by creating a “single source of truth” through distributed ledger technology, where previously messages of ownership were sent back and forth leading to multiple records of share ownership.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, trading volumes had reached unprecedented levels, hitting equity volumes around 7 million trades a day in March 2020 compared to normal daily averages around 2 million. Thus, creating a scalable solution became imperative.

The New System Might Not Be Available to the Public until Mid-2022

The project has already been delayed three times. In September 2018 ASX pushed the live date to late 2020, and in July 2020 it was further extended to April 2022. The testing program will continue to the end of the 2022 calendar year before the system goes live in April 2023.

One of the reasons for this extension was to allow participants and regulators to cope with the volatility of early pandemic trading, and then to allow the new system to be redesigned to accommodate a huge increase in trading volumes.

ASX chief executive Dominic Stevens said the synchronised ledger was being stress-tested to see if it could deal with high daily trading volumes, with about 40 market participants also testing the clearing and settlement system’s new code. By the end of July, ASX predicts it will have completed the code and will publish this into a “customer development environment” at the end of August.

The project is moving to operational implementation, as opposed to a technology build. We are reaching that turning point over the next six months.

ASX Chief Executive, Dominic Stevens

Since the ASX’s equities trading outage last November, some have questioned the necessity of such an ambitious technological endeavour that has far-reaching economic implications.

It needs a lot of testing as it’s a big ecosystem of value. But when you look at what was [designed] during the course of 2018, that is basically finished and is out there in the market.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Gold India Investing

Indians Switch Gold for Crypto – Crypto Investment Skyrockets 19,900% in a Year

In India, where well-to-do citizens own more than 25,000 tonnes of gold, investments in crypto mushroomed from about US$200 million to nearly US$40 billion in the past year, which translates to a massive 19,900% jump.

Entrepreneur Richi Sood, 32, is one of those Indian citizens to have pivoted from gold to crypto. Since December 2020, she’s invested US$13,400 into Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum.

Richi Sood

Sood’s timing has been fortuitous so far. She cashed out part of her position when Bitcoin broke through US$50,000 in February and then bought back in after the recent tumble.

I’d rather put my money in crypto than gold. Crypto is more transparent than gold or property and returns are more in a short period of time.

Indian entrepreneur, Richi Sood

Younger Cohort Cracks on to Crypto

Sood is just one of a growing cohort of Indians – now totalling more than 15 million – buying and selling digital coins. Much of the interest in India is centred on the 18-35 age group, says Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of India’s first cryptocurrency exchange.

They find it far easier to invest in crypto than gold because the process is very simple. You go online, you can buy crypto, you don’t have to verify it, unlike gold.

Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of ZebPay

India Mirrors Australian Crypto Trend

The crypto landscape in India mirrors the trend in Australia, where a survey earlier this year indicated investors were favouring cryptocurrencies over gold and expressing a high level of interest in crypto debit cards. As in India, younger people are also demonstrating the most enthusiasm for crypto, even favouring digital assets over real estate.

Categories
Australia DeFi

Australia’s Tracer DAO Raises A$6 Million To Build Derivatives Trading Platform

Photo 218312864 © Marina Putilova | Dreamstime.com

Australian trading platform Tracer DAO has raised US$4.5 million (A$6m) in a strategic round backed by various crypto companies, including Melbourne-based crypto investment manager Apollo Capital.

Tracer is an Ethereum-based DeFi protocol that introduces a derivatives marketplace owned by a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) – a collective represented by written computer code or member votes through governance tokens.

Tracer is backed by Mycelium, a Brisbane-based group of developers who believe Australia has the potential to attract global blockchain investments . There are however uncertainties regarding the regulatory environment in the country, something many in the blockchain community have echoed in the past.

Mycelium Will Adapt to Regulatory Requirements in Due Course

Mycelium says it will work in a legal grey area, adapting to regulatory requirements once they become clear.

We are by no means anti-regulation and we believe consumers should have protections, but we are innovation maximalists looking to build on the cutting edge of technology with a global solution. We are still in the infancy of this structure coming to fruition.

We are in a discovery phase of this innovation. We need to have public policy conversations to make it safe for people to innovate in this space. We also need to discover how the law treats it; that is not an answered question yet.

Ash Morgan, Co-founder of Mycelium

Australia is an Attractive Target for Blockchain Investment

Australia is a potential market for DeFi and blockchain development, and Tracer is one of the latest protocols to join the various startups to have emerged recently. Speaking about the local regulatory laws and the potential use case for Australia, Mycelium co-founder Ash Morgan added:

[Australia] can definitely compete in this space and, with its global reputation for fintech, we can really lead on a thought basis up there with the US if we take a position early on. We expect Australia to pick up its act on growth around these products and we expect there to be rapid growth in employment in the coming few years. We want to be a part of that within Australia.

Tracer DAO will try to tackle the DeFi derivates space so everyone on the platform has access to new options. One option, Morgan says, is around water rights and energy as solar is more broadly implemented worldwide. This could be distributed by neobanks.

DeFi is expanding fast throughout Australia and soon, more investors may turn their gaze on the country, following the DeFi craze in Switzerland as Sygnum Bank is set to offer custody and trading of DeFi tokens.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Crime Crypto News Monero

Aussie Couple Charged for Operating DarkMarket Platform Accepting Bitcoin and Monero Payments

German prosecutors have charged the Australian couple allegedly behind DarkMarket, one of the world’s largest illegal marketplaces operating on the darknet.

DarkMarket was shut down on 11 January and the suspected operator of the marketplace, a 34-year-old Australian man, was arrested near the Germany-Denmark border soon after. It is alleged that his 32-year-old wife was responsible for the design of the website and mediation of customer disputes. The couple, who are living in Australia and cannot be named for legal reasons, have now been officially charged by German prosecutors.

German news breaks of DarkMarket seizure. Source: Europol

What Was DarkMarket?

DarkMarket was a virtual marketplace that sold all manner of illegal items. It operated on the darknet and users paid with crypto such as Bitcoin and Monero.

Illegal drugs of all kinds, counterfeit money, stolen or forged credit cards, malware and many other illegal goods were traded on ‘DarkMarket’.

Koblenz Prosecutor General’s Office

DarkMarket was a huge marketplace with almost 500,000 users and more than 2,400 sellers. Over 320,000 transactions were made during its operation: more than 4,650 Bitcoin and 12,800 Monero were traded (at the current rate, this represents more than €140 million, or A$220 million worth).

Humble Origins … in a Hackathon

DarkMarket’s origins are quite fascinating. In 2014, DarkMarket was one of the winners of the Bitcoin Expo hackathon in Toronto, Canada. The project was described as a decentralised marketplace that could not be shut down. The official Ethererum Twitter account even put up a post congratulating the team:

Crypto Crackdown Goes Global

Of late, there appears there to be an increased global crackdown on those using crypto for nefarious purposes.

At the start of the month, Chinese police arrested 1,100 people for crypto-related money laundering charges. And in April, a Swedish-Russian citizen was arrested for operating a darknet Bitcoin website, Bitcoin Fog, and was accused of laundering over US$366 million.