Australian NBN Service Provider Launtel has enabled payments in Bitcoin on their website, allowing you to pay for your internet using BTC.
On the website, you can select Bitcoin as a payment method, then you’ll be redirected to a page showing a QR code you can use to pay (at the current going rate for BTC).
New Bitcoin Payment Method
The ability to pay for your internet in Bitcoin is not advertised – as of today – on Launtel’s website. However, the announcement was made on the company’s Twitter account and is visible on the User Account payment page.
You can now pay for your launtel service with #Bitcoin
Give our free 7 day trial a go and see what a better service provider feels like. https://t.co/BuuWtdLYIc
Launtel has now joined the ranks of companies like Tesla who allow their goods and services to be paid for in Bitcoin. In fact, Tesla has gone even further, allowing tokenized (TESLA) stocks for sale on Binance.
Australian Companies Accepting Bitcoin Is Growing
The list of Australian companies accepting cryptos as payment is growing, these are some we have seen recently:
Companies might be deciding to accept Bitcoin because of the increasing price over the past year or so. Cryptocurrencies still do, however, remain a new market and companies should be aware of this and factor in the risks vs rewards into their decisions.
With Bitcoins best ever start to a year and the popularity of cryptocurrencies booming in Australia, it has led to massive growth for crypto exchanges in Australia.
With the first quarter of 2021 wrapped up, Binance Australia has reported record growth & milestones in terms of AUD trading volumes and the number of institutions signing up. They have also been ramping up their local presence in Australia with events, weekly meetups and online masterclasses.
On the 11th of January, Binance Australia recorded over AUD $130 million in trading volume across all Australian Dollar (AUD) pairs in a single day. Then on the 23rd February the record was broken once again as the daily trading volume reached AUD $175 million.
This looks like a huge achievement for at least two reasons:
It sends a clear signal about the size of cryptocurrency markets within the overall financial horizon in Australia.
It made Binance Australia the top digital asset exchange in Australia by daily AUD trading volume, only 6 months after its launch in July 2020.
We are humbled to witness the rapid growth of the Aussie crypto sector. Users, volume, adoption are increasing like never before. The Binance Australia team and I are proud to serve you all as Australia’s top digital asset exchange.
Jeff Yew, CEO of Binance Australia
Australia Local Events and Media Presence
With so many projects and developments launched every day, it could be easy to focus only on the technological aspects of the innovation and get lost in the crypto space. Some companies seem to very aware of this risk, thus putting serious effort in establishing a face-to-face relationship with local communities. Binance Australia is definitely amongst those business who strives to connect with its customers, showing its own team not behind a computer monitor.
International Women’s Day 2021 Binance Australia event in Brisbane
Jeff Yew, the CEO of Binance Australia, has also been quite active in the media, for example being interviewed from Sky News Australia on the Business Weekend Show. He has also been featured as one of the brightest Aussies under 30.
With only 25% of the year complete so far, there is still lots of time for more growth, stay tuned for more updates.
Binance Australia also added three new tokens to trade on its platform: CHZ (Chiliz), BTT (BitTorrent), and THETA (Theta Network).
These three tokens have had an outstanding performance during the first quarter of this year, especially CHZ, which surged 1,600% as the altcoin market saw a boom while high-market cap currencies stagnated.
BSC Reaching New Milestones
The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) protocol achieved a new record on Friday by surpassing 5 million transactions daily — this is 300% more than what the Ethereum network can currently achieve.
As the number of users in the exchange grows, Binance Australia will host a masterclass for beginners keen to use the Binance Smart Chain on April 14. The event will be held virtually via Zoom or watch the Livestream on its official channel.
Bitcoin broke above $60,000 (A$78,600) moving past $61,000 (A$80,000) on April 12. Data from Glassnode suggest that large bitcoin holders (whales) are increasing their positions and accumulating BTC for the first time in over five months.
Buy and Trade Cryptos Using Aussie Dollars
Binance Australia has become one of the top exchanges in the country and more Aussies seem keen to invest in crypto using their AUD — this is why Crypto News Australia has covered a guide with all the necessary info to get started.
Coinjar also offers a great platform to buy BTC using AUD, especially for those who are venturing in the crypto space for the first time.
Another top exchange is Swyftx, which saw record trading volumes over the last two months. Swyftx’s founders were also featured on a list of top tech innovators in Australia, together with Jeff Yew — CEO of Binance Australia.
Queensland Solar & Lighting will now accept cryptocurrencies as payment for their services with installing new solar systems in Brisbane, Queensland.
The company will accept any of the 250 digital assets traded on Australian-based crypto exchange Coinspot. Customers can choose to pay fully or part-pay in crypto for their home solar systems.
We are excited to announce that we are now accepting any form of cryptocurrency traded on the Coinspot platform to be used as payment for a solar system.
Daniel Jarrett, Queensland Solar & Lighting
Solar Companies Using Crypto and Blockchain
Queensland Solar & Lighting is one of the latest in the businesses to adopt cryptocurrencies. As we reported, Solar Exchange has been recently launched – a blockchain-based program that will allow Aussies to exchange solar energy credits for beer using blockchain. The program, powered by Power Ledger, will allow customers to track the number of beer they have earned, based on the number of solar energy credits exchanged with Victoria Bitter.
Power Ledger is an Australian-based blockchain venture that allows decentralised selling and buying of renewable energy. Last year, the platform completed a trial with electricity provider American PowerNet, making it the first implementation of peer-to-peer energy trading technology in the United States.
A Bitcoin backed loan this is similar to any other loan, however with this type of loan you can borrow Cryptocurrency and use your existing Bitcoin as collateral against the borrowing.
This crypto loan is provided by Binance and you can use your existing Binance account to apply. All registered Binance users can apply without any lengthy forms to fill in, and what’s best is that it’s approved instantly.
How A Crypto Backed Loan works
The process is simple – you lend your Bitcoin to Binance for a specific amount of time (say 30 days) and in return they lend you crypto. You pay hourly interest for the loan in Bitcoin. If the price of Bitcoin drops suddenly, you can simply top up your loan collateral to keep the amount borrowed to below 65% to avoid your loan being liquidated.
Coin Borrowed = The crypto that you borrowed from the loan.
Collateral Coin = The crypto that you used to fund for the loan.
In the example below we are borrowing $100 USD worth of BUSD for 30 days and using Bitcoin (BTC) to fund the loan as crypto collateral. BUSD is a stablecoin like USDT, but it is run by Binance.
Steps to Apply for a Bitcoin Backed Loan
Login to your Binance Account
SelectFinance > Loans from the main menu
Select the Coin you wish to borrow (you can borrow lots of different cryptos including stablecoins USDT and BUSD, see below full list of coins you can borrow).
Enter the Amount you wish to borrow.
Select how long you want to borrow it for (can be 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 90 days or 180 days). The interest rates will change depending on the duration chosen.
Crypto loan application form
Once your ready, click Start Borrowing Now
Read and agree to the Terms & Conditions
Approved crypto loan of BUSD using BTC as collateral
That’s it! You should now see +100 BUSD in your Spot Wallet account and also the BTC deducted from your balance to be held in the loan.
How To Adjust the LTV Risk Level?
The loan to value ratio (LTV) shows your risk level of the percentage your borrowed compared to the coin you lent. To have less risk you can lower this value to below 65% and add more BTC as collateral, which will reduce the likelihood of a margin call should the Bitcoin price drop suddenly.
Adjust your LTV risk level
How Much Can You Borrow?
You can check the Crypto Asset Loan Data to see the minimum/maximum lending amounts for each coin and the interest rates for the lending pair.
Crypto Loan Data Table
How Do You Pay the Interest?
The total interest for the period is added to your Collateral Coin value when you apply for the loan, so apart from the potential margin call there is no additional payments. The fees get automatically gets deducted (paid as interest) hourly at the rate agreed on (when you applied for the loan).
How Do You Close The Loan?
You can repay (close) the loan at any time without extra fees by simply clicking the Repay button. Select the amount you wish to repay (say 100%) and confirm the payment. This is an instant and simple process.
Repay and close the loan
How Does the Margin Call Work?
If the Collateral Coin drops in value compared to the Coin Borrowed, you may get a “margin call” which you will have to deposit more Collateral Coin to adjust the LTV back to a normal risk level (say below 65%)
Liquidation can occur if the Collateral Coin’s total value is equal to the Borrowed Coin’s value. If this happens the loan is liquidated where the Collateral Coin is automatically sold to pay for the Borrowed Coin’s value and the loan is closed. There is no additional steps for you and you’ll be notified of the liquidation. You still keep the originally Borrowed Coin from the loan and don’t need to pay that back.
Can You Trade or Withdraw Borrowed Crypto?
Yes, you can trade on Binance using the loan borrowed crypto in both spot and margin trading. Yes, you can withdraw them as well.
What Are The Tax Implications?
Coming soon. We’ll update this section from Tax Accountant advice soon.
Users of Swyftx, one of the leading cryptocurrency trading platforms in Australia, can now benefit from a service to help them cut down on the hours spent filling out spreadsheets to comply with the tax office requirements.
Since the ATO declared cryptocurrencies as a form of property – therefore making holdings and gains taxable – a sizable amount of traders were reluctantly torn away from candles and graphs to a possibly less fun type of tracking.
Importing Your Transaction Data
Although there are a number of software tools that can help you easily import your transaction data to help you calculate what you may owe the taxman, an integration with a platform you might already be using may help you save some more time.
Earlier this week, CoinTracking announced their integration of the Swyftx API, which will allow Swyftx users to track their trades for any and all purposes.
Considered the world’s first tool dedicated to crypto tax reporting, the team at CoinTracking boasts over a hundred tax professionals that are regularly consulted with to ensure users are kept up to speed.
CoinTracking was founded in 2012 and went online in April 2013 as the world’s first cryptocurrency tax reporting tool and portfolio manager. The company was started with the goal of making cryptocurrency traders’ lives easier – not only during tax season. Since its inception, CoinTracking has accumulated over 802,000 users with currently 24.7 billion US-Dollars total worth of all portfolios. Its worldwide professional network consists of more than 160 tax advisors and tax lawyers to assist with international tax filing.
CoinTracking
On their end, Swyftx – as they call themselves, “the Australian Crypto Exchange that gives a ****” – have shown yet again their commitment to improving the trading experience for their users.
If you’ve been putting off filings out of a sense of dread when confronted with endless rows of numbers, this fresh implementation might be what you need.
A growing number of Australian financial advisors are now approaching crypto exchanges to learn more about crypto-assets as Bitcoin rallies again towards $60k, and the crypto market tops $2 trillion.
As the crypto market surges and even outpaces legacy markets such as the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, more financial advisers are now keener to know about cryptocurrencies and how to invest in them, according to Shane Stevenson, CEO of Cointree.
There’s no doubt that bitcoin is now being seen as an alternative to gold as a store of value, reflected recently by the rising price of bitcoin, in particular, and the fact that cash, term deposits and bonds have less appeal because of the historically low-interest rates, that cryptocurrencies are becoming more attractive to SMSFs.
Cointree is an AUSTRAC-regulated crypto exchange in Australia. As the global crypto market grows, the number of SMSFs applications in the exchange has surged 53% in just three months.
This percentage falls short compared to last year as the increasing number of Aussies adding crypto assets to their portfolio is a reflection of the need for a hedge fund against hyperinflation.
Stevens added that most SMSFs are limited when it comes to cryptocurrencies, not only because of the challenges that SMSFs face when it comes to Proof of Ownership and Proof of Value, but traditional financial advisers also lack the knowledge for this type of investments.
Crypto Market Tops $2 Trillion
The crypto market topped $2 trillion on April 4, outperforming legacy markets with a surge of 3.55%, while Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 surged 1.36% and 1.43% respectively.
The crypto market now holds steady at $1 trillion for ten consecutive days, and over 1.90 million BTC were moved as the currency tested levels of $52k and $58k, establishing strong support at $54k.
Despite the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies, the number of Aussies investing in Bitcoin and other currencies using their SMSFs has spiked since it reached $US50,000 by mid-February.
Australian crypto exchange Coinstash is running red hot amongst investors. Less than a week after opening its equity crowdfunding campaign, the Brisbane-based startup has raised over $2 million, smashing its minimum target of $700,000 and fast closing in on its $2.8 million maximum offer.
Its investors are piling in to be part of one of the first Australian crypto platforms to potentially offer users the ability to earn interest on, borrow and spend (via a “crypto” credit card) their cryptocurrencies. The founders of Coinstash describe its future innovative products as ‘putting people’s crypto to work”.
The company’s funding milestone has come whilst the crypto bull run extends yet another month; both Bitcoin and Etherum have broken all-time highs, astounding both their skeptics and advocates. But is speculating on price the only way you can make money or use your digital assets?
Coinstash co-founders Ting Wang and Mena Theodorou clearly think there is more opportunity than just price speculation.
According to the company’s offer document available for investors, the company has a clear vision on how it plans to broaden the possibilities for its customers.
“We are bringing three revolutionary products to the market – Earn, Borrow and Spend”, says Mena, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder. “They’re all subject to regulatory approval, but in a nutshell, Earn would let users earn a rate of return on their Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Borrow will allow users to post their cryptocurrency holdings as collateral and borrow Australian Dollars or another cryptocurrency of their choice. And Spend will be a Coinstash credit card that allows users to spend their money anywhere in the world, using their cryptocurrency as a line of credit.”
The beauty of it all is, of course, that similar services already exist in the traditional banking world, for example when you go to a bank and apply for a savings account or a lender for a personal loan or a credit card. The actual practice of opening a deposit account, or in the case of borrowing funds putting up your “capital” as security, won’t be anything new to the average user. It’s just that with the Coinstash products, you’re dealing with your crypto assets, rather than the money stored in your bank or putting your real-world asset such as your house, car or credit history at risk.
Mena Theodorou, CTO and Co-Founder of Coinstash
When asked if the company’s decision to raise capital during the current crypto bull market had helped to make the raise successful, Ting, the CEO and co-founder, says that there is a lot of planning and execution that are necessary for a successful campaign, regardless of the current market conditions. In fact, the idea to raise funds via equity crowdfunding started in early 2020, and planning began in the second half of that year.
“After the first crypto bull run of 2017, Mena and I realised straight away that there are problems that we can solve for Aussie crypto holders. Yes, there are companies who offer similar products like the ones we propose. Still, the difference between what we want to do and what already exists out there is that our products will be regulated according to local Australian laws, meaning that all our users will be afforded the protection provided under Australian regulatory regime,” explains Ting.
In good times such as now, no one really thinks about what happens if something goes wrong. However, if something does, in fact, go wrong, I think most people would agree that you’d rather your crypto platform be based in Australia and subject to our laws in case you need to turn to them for help, which would be more difficult if the platform is not based in Australia.
Ting Wang, CEO and co-founder of Coinstash
Always consider the general CSF risk warning and offer document before investing.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reportedly begun assessing several complaints from users of MyCryptoWallet, an Australian digital currency exchange, according to a Monday report by the Syndey Morning Herald.
Many users had complained that they are unable to access their cryptocurrencies on the platform. A spokeswoman for MyCryptoWallet claimed they are completely unaware of the issues reported by the users.
The Issue With MyCryptoWallet
Launched by tech entrepreneur Jaryd Koenigsmann, MyCryptoWallet is considered a notable crypto exchange in Australia, as it amassed more than 20,000 users about three months after launch. It began facing some business-related challenges after a dispute with its banking partner, the National Australia Bank (NAB), which resulted in the freezing of the exchange’s bank account.
As reported, MyCryptoWallet also had an issue with its technology partners, which led to the suspension of deposits and withdrawal on the platform. Later on, the exchange said all the issues had been resolved. However, most of the users were still not able to access their funds on the platform. The customer support page was reportedly inactive, and complaints raised by the users weren’t addressed. While speaking to SMH, a user said he hasn’t heard back from the company about $40,000 he put into the platform.
I would welcome the chance to get my funds back, but I don’t have a good feeling about it. I would also welcome an investigation from ASIC or AUSTRAC.
Another user of MyCryptoWallet
Same here.. can't withdraw funds…sold coins …got AUD… try to withdraw with no confirmation. Balance shows as zero with transfer pending approval. Anyone know what's going on with them?
While commenting on the development, the spokeswoman for the exchange said they weren’t aware of these issues and that they lost access to their social media accounts back in 2019. She added it was “absolutely impossible” for the exchange to cease cryptocurrency trading without notifying the authorities. They opened a new support email address and began responding to the complaints shortly after speaking with SMH.
A Sydney resident has been sentenced to 16 months in prison following an arrest last June after authorities were tipped off by a crypto company he had dealt with in order to deposit the stolen bitcoins.
The suspect pleaded guilty to seven counts of money laundering, one charge of identity theft and a drug offence.
In order to withdraw a total of $43,350, he used his newfound identities to withdraw the money from various crypto ATMs provided by BitRocket. However, BitRocket informed law enforcement that something fishy was going on in the wake of the first few transactions — leading to the man’s subsequent arrest while attempting yet another withdrawal. His apartment was subsequently searched, where police found a small amount of methamphetamine, as well as $6500 in cash.
Several Identities Used
Spokesmen for law enforcement have stated that as many as seven false identities were used by the suspect in yet another crypto money laundering case these past few months.
According to AFP Cybercrime Detective Acting Inspector Thomas Walker, the use of false identities can slow down police work considerably, since there is the risk of apprehending an innocent person who may not even be aware that their identity was stolen.
Criminals are continually trying to identify new opportunities to profit at the expense of other people, but we are focused on identifying and stopping anyone who tries to cheat the system and defraud others.
Thomas Walker, AFP Cybercrime Detective Acting Inspector
Although law enforcement representatives are not sure yet, they suspect the Bitcoins were stolen back in 2019. Detectives are also investigating whether the man is part of a larger cybercrime group, or a “lone wolf”.
So far, the alleged money launderer has spent a total of 9 months behind bars — and will be eligible for parole after 12 months in custody.
