Category: Australia

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Australia Binance Binance Coin Crypto News Swyftx

Swyftx Exchange to List BSC DODO and PancakeSwap Token

Swyftx Exchange to List BSC DODO and PancakeSwap Token

It’s been an impressive week for the Binance ecosystem. Starting with the Binance Coin (BNB), the-now third-largest cryptocurrency caught many people by surprise following the massive increase in the price to slightly over US$300 during the time of writing. On that value, the BNB coin had a market capitalization of over US$46 billion. 

Following the boom in Binance Smart Chain (BSC) also, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in Australia, Swyftx, has announced plans to list the native digital currency of two projects running on the BSC.

Swyftx to List PancakeSwap and DODO token

As the crypto exchange tweeted on Friday, it’s set to launch the native cryptocurrency of PancakeSwap (CAKE) and DODO (DODO) on its platform, extending support for the Binance ecosystem to Australia. The exchange didn’t mention any trading pairs for the cryptocurrencies. However, once they are listed, the users will be able to purchase and sell these cryptocurrencies right from the Swyftx exchange. 

The CAKE and DODO tokens are also seeing an increase in market value. During the time of writing, the CAKE token was trading at the value of US$17.47 on Coinmarketcap. CAKE has a circulating supply of over 119 million and a market capitalization of $2.079 billion. At the same time, the DODO token was trading at $US5.94, which represents over a 28 percent increase on a 24-hour count. It has a circulating supply of 95,459,184 DODO and a US$567 million market cap.

What’s With Binance Smart Chain 

The boom in BSC is coming as the transaction fee on the Ethereum blockchain is hitting the roof. Many people are diverting to BSC due to the low transaction cost, for instance, DODO. Interestingly, the Binance Smart Chain now records more transactions than Ethereum, which is considered a major flippening.

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Australia Crypto News DeFi

Aussie Unido Partners TRON Network Fork for Institutional-grade Crypto Custody

Aussie Unido Partners TRON Network Fork for Institutional-grade Crypto Custody

It’s no longer news that the institutions are beginning to throw in support for cryptocurrencies amid the massive upticks in their value since the last quarter of 2020. Also, many investors are resorting to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin due to the fear of inflation. 

Thus, in preparation for the incoming wave of new institutions in the crypto space, LGCY, a fork of the TRON network, has collaborated with an Australia-based digital currency custody service and DeFi platform to enable secured crypto storage support for investors.

Crypto Custody and DeFi Service for Enterprise

Institutions in the cryptocurrency space are looking for an all-in-one solution that can provide access to a secured crypto-asset storage facility and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, according to LGCY. The partnership with the Australian crypto custody platform will enable the company to provide such a solution for institutions to securely store their digital currencies. 

To achieve this, LGCY will integrate a white-label version of Unido’s wallet, per the announcement on Thursday. The developers on the LGCY network will equally be able to leverage Unido’s Core API to develop decentralized applications (Dapps) designed for enterprise solutions. 

“LGCY and UNIDO are excited to announce that both platforms will be working together to deliver the security of the Unido EP multi-sig platform to LGCY enterprise clients users. The integration of the LGCY blockchain into the Unido platform will be completed as LGCY approaches mainnet launch,” the companies noted. 

Interest in DeFi Keeps Growing

Interest and activities in the decentralized finance industry have been increasing notably since the start of the year. At the moment, there is more than US$41 billion worth of digital currency locked in the DeFi industry. Interestingly, more Bitcoin is being tokenized on Ethereum for DeFi protocols, which indicates BTC also has a strong demand in that market. 
There are currently over 172k Bitcoin locked in DeFi, according to data from Dune Analytics.

BlocDesk BTC on Ethereum
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Australia Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies

The Crypto Market has Surpassed Australia’s Total GPD, In Less Than 24 Hours

In less than 24 hours, the crypto-market has reached a total of $1.60 trillion, according to Coinmarketcap, even surpassing the total GPD —Gross Domestic Product— of two countries: Spain and Australia.

According to data from the World Bank —a financial institution that provides loans and bonds to governments— Australia’s current GPD is $1.48 trillion, while the Spanish GPD stands around $1.39.

No signs of Selling for the moment

Bitcoin’s price has been moving with speed since February 8, when Tesla announced investing $1.5B —almost AU$2B— in Bitcoin. Now the chart indicates a possible 46-48K price correction, before taking off or dropping below that level of support.

BTC/USD chart

Despite a possible price correction —or even a consolidation zone, BTC could reach higher levels of even $65K considering there still is a strong demand as the buying pressure still is strong between traders and investors.

BTC/USD investor’s sentiment

Higher price levels for Bitcoin are probable scenarios according to several top-investors and CEOs, including Antoni Scaramucci —SkyBridge founder, and analysts from JP Morgan.

The Securities and Exchange Commission —SEC— could soon allow a Bitcoin ETF, now that two major institutions: NYDIG —New York Digital Investment Group LLC—, and Morgan Stanley joined to file a petition in favor of a Bitcoin fund for their accredited investors, while Morgan Stanley will be NYDIG’s first authorized participant.

The move follows Australia and Canada’s recent plans for opening a Bitcoin ETF, with full permission and regulations.

Besides, Australia is also entering the crypto-market more than ever and even using Self-Managed Super Funds for buying Bitcoin despite the increase in price.

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Australia Cryptocurrencies Scams

US DOJ Charges 3 North Korean For Cybercrimes That Caused Over $1.3 Billion In Damages

The US Department of Justice is charging 3 hackers – presumed to be associated with the infamous Lazarus Group that took on Sony back in 2014 – with theft and extortion of cryptocurrency between 2017 and 2020.

Possible Funding Of Nukes Via Crypto Theft

It’s been less than a week since the UN made allegations that North Korea may be funding its nuclear program using cryptocurrency stolen by its army of hackers.

To go along with the charging of the 3 individuals, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Treasury published a joint statement about a piece of malware known as AppleJesus. This malicious app poses as a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange, fooling users into downloading it and transferring their crypto to unknown sources – presumed to be run by North Korea.

“This report catalogues AppleJeus malware in detail. North Korea has used AppleJeus malware posing as cryptocurrency trading platforms since at least 2018. In most instances, the malicious application – seen on both Windows and Mac operating systems – appears to be from a legitimate cryptocurrency trading company, thus fooling individuals into downloading it as a third-party application from a website that seems legitimate.”

This attack appears to have targeted users and companies in Australia, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Argentina, New Zealand, India, China, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea – among other countries.

Due to international sanctions, North Korea has turned to more unorthodox methods in order to turn a profit. In the past, these activities have run the gamut from farming in-game currencies on World of Warcraft to more typical methods.

In a press statement, Assistant Attorney General John Demers stated that North Korean hackers have been causing quite a lot of damage to banks – except this time, keyboards were used, instead of guns.

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Australia Bitcoin Crypto News New Brighton Capital Superannuation

Australian SMSFs are Buying More Bitcoin Despite Increase in Price

Australian SMSFs are Buying More Bitcoin Despite Increase in Price

A report by the Australian Financial Review on Wednesday confirmed the growing interest in Bitcoin among retirees in Australia. Self-managed super funds or SMSFs are increasingly accumulating more Bitcoins for clients, not minding the increased market value of the cryptocurrency.

On Wednesday, the price of the leading digital currency, Bitcoin (BTC), soared to another record level of over US$51,100. This indicates that retirees in the country are more confident with allocating their funds to the cryptocurrency.

A Five-fold Increase in 2020

Last year, the Bitcoin purchases of self-managed super funds increased by five-folds, according to BTC Market, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Australia. The average crypto trade amongst these funds also spiked by 20 percent within the last quarter of the year, as Bitcoin began seeing more institutional and corporate investors, like MicroStrategy, MassMutual, Square Inc., and many others. 

“Previously trade sizes for SMSFs were in the tens of thousands of dollars, but we’re now seeing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to Caroline Bowler, the chief executive at BTC Markets. This is probably because many Australian retirees now prefer the cryptocurrency to gold as a better asset to hedge against the declining value of fiat currencies, the report reads.

“Bitcoin as a store of value is interesting to SMSFs holders. People are researching it and getting better educated around it. They look at it as a deflationary asset, and I think they understand the concept behind that,” Bowler added. 

Interested in buying crypto with your Super? Need help? Speak with Cryptocurrency Superannuation Expert at New Brighton Capital Book a Free 20 min Consultation

Only 21 Million Bitcoin Will Ever Exist

Fiat currencies like the British Pounds and Australian dollar are issued and controlled by the government and the central bank of the nation. There is no limit to the number of currencies these authorities can issue. However, Bitcoin is pre-programmed to cap at 21 million; nothing more, nothing less. This supports the idea that the cryptocurrency can serve as an inflation hedge asset. As of February 17, there was over 18.6 million BTC in circulation. 

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Australia Bitcoin Institutions

Following Australia and Canada, the U.S. Could Soon Open a Bitcoin ETF

The New York Digital Investment Group —NYDIG— has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission —SEC— for a Bitcoin ETF, with Morgan Stanley being the first authorized participant, and the NYDIG being the custodian of that crypto-fund.

Both companies are hoping the SEC will finally set the green light now that Bitcoin and crypto, inevitably, are taking institutions and the mainstream by storm.

The Long Road for Bitcoin into Institutions

From 2017 to 2019, Bitcoin has had a hard time entering into institutional systems in the U.S. —mainly, the petition for a Bitcoin Exchanged-traded fund has been rejected multiple times by the SEC.

But as more countries like Australia and Canada are moving forward with this new financial vehicle, the U.S. could finally consider allowing a Bitcoin fund, now that big players in the industry like Morgan Stanley, Tesla, Grayscale, and several more major corporations are jumping in on digital assets.

A few days ago, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission —ASIC— approved a Bitcoin ETF listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, but Canada went first, by approving the world’s first Bitcoin ETF.

Could Bitcoin Hit $100K by the end of 2021?

Most hodlers in the crypto-community are going all out in favor of $100K for Bitcoin, which could become the greatest milestone achieved by BTC since its creation.

The petition of NYDIG came shortly after Bitcoin made history yesterday, finally reaching $50,000, and slowing down to $47,000.

BTC/USD chart

It’s not about retail traders and deposited faith anymore. Major companies like Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan are exploring ways of adding Bitcoin into their sheets, now that the demand is growing stronger between accredited investors.

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Australia Crypto News Swyftx

Australia’s Swyftx Exchange Lists Trust Wallet’s Token

Australia’s Swyftx Exchange Lists Trust Wallet’s Token

One of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in Australia, Swyftx, announced that it has listed the native cryptocurrency of Trust Wallet on its platform on Tuesday. Besides making the Trust Wallet Token or TWT available for the Australian users, the development, of course, extends the accessibility of the crypto, which is big news for TWT holders. 

Meanwhile, this is coming a few days after the exchange delisted two cryptocurrencies due to liquidity issues. 

Swyftx Adds Support for TWT

The development was disclosed early Tuesday by the cryptocurrency exchange via Twitter. Going forward, the users will be able to purchase and sell the cryptocurrency right from the exchange. However, it seems users can only trade the cryptocurrency with the fiat currency (the Australian dollar) as no crypto-to-crypto trading pair was mentioned for the Trust Wallet Token.

Note that the TWT cryptocurrency is a utility token for Trust Wallet, a mobile cryptocurrency wallet application more suitable for BEP2, and Ethereum-based assets, like ERC20 and ERC721 tokens. The TWT crypto is also used as an incentive and governance token for the wallet platform, indicating that the most demand for the cryptocurrency should be from the wallet users. 

Hence, TWT is likely to maintain a modest price performance as Trust Wallet gains more adoption and increase in user activity – this is not financial advice.

At the time of writing, the TWT cryptocurrency was trading at US$0.6281 on Coinmarketcap, with a 24-hour price change of 5.10 percent. From a circulating supply of 250,926,200 TWT, the token has a market capitalization of US$157,050,049 as of February 16. 

Swyftx Sees More User Growth

Following the exchange’s tweets, the Trust Wallet Token is probably the second cryptocurrency listed on the platform since 2021. On January 5, the exchange announced the first coin listing to be Celo (CELO). CELO is a blockchain ecosystem that focuses on increasing the adoption of digital currencies among smartphone users.

On January 20, Swyftx reported a massive user growth last year, as well as its plans to introduce heavy infrastructure optimizations to support more growth in 2021.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Forex Trading

FBS to Debut Cryptocurrency Trading for FX Traders in Australia

FBS to Debut Cryptocurrency Trading for FX Traders in Australia

Just when cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular among Australians following the recent surges in price, an international broker, FBS is expanding in the country with cryptocurrency trading support targeted at Aussie FX traders. The development today would further strengthen the support and accessibility of digital currencies in the forex market, not just fiat currency and stock trading. 

Crypto Adoption Among FX Traders

The development today is coming after the broker received a regulatory permit from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). As an ASIC-certified trading platform, the company will provide its cryptocurrency instruments alongside forex and stock trading to Australians in compliance with the ASIC regulations, according to the report on Tuesday. 

Interestingly, FBS will equally debut Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency trading services for Islamic traders in the country, as their platform supports a “swap-free option for traders who cannot receive or pay the interest due to their faith.”

It’s worth mentioning that FBS would only add to the list of cryptocurrency brokers available in Australia; not the first. Already, eToro offers Contracts for Difference (CFD) on 16 digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, and others. Other crypto brokers in the country include Plus500, IG, and Pepperstone, all of which offer CFDs for not less than five cryptocurrencies. 

The increase in the number of crypto brokers in Australia would strengthen the FX-crypto market, thereby creating another entry or capital inflow source for the Aussie crypto market.

Interest in Cryptocurrency Keeps Soaring in Australia

It’s no doubt that Australians are increasingly picking interest in digital currencies, probably due to the increases in market value and news of institutional adoption. Recently, Crypto News Australia reported a 132 percent increase in the volume of unique searches for cryptocurrencies on TradingView, between July 2020 and January 2021. A separate report also confirmed the growing interest in cryptocurrencies among teenagers in Australia. 

Already, crypto exchanges like Binance Australia, are seeing increases in user activity.

Categories
Australia Crypto News DeFi

Synthetix Raises $12 Million as VC Confidence in DeFi Grows

Synthetix pattern.

Synthetix has successfully raised $12 million from major VC firms, including major names like Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm and IOSG.

Synthetix co-founder Jordan Momtazi, made the announcement via Twitter.

What makes this capital raise particularly interesting is that VCs didn’t directly send funds to Synthetix’s Australian founders. Instead, they made a purchase of the platform’s native token directly from the synthetixDAO treasury.

Who is Synthetix?

Synthetix is a decentralised derivatives platform that features the native SNX token, as well as its own stablecoin called sUSD.

The reincarnation of Australian crypto project Havven, they have since rebranded as Synthetix and launched a new suite of crypto-backed synthetic asset tokens.

Synthetic assets are financial instruments in the form of ERC-20 smart contracts known as “Synths” that track and provide the returns of another asset without requiring you to hold that asset.

Recent price action has been encouraging for the bulls, as the launch of the Synthetix Staking dApp has propelled price higher, breaking out of key resistance.

VC Interest a Double Edged Sword for DeFi Projects Like Synthetix

The current popularity surge in DeFi projects has not been lost on the VC industry. But with DeFi being decentralised in its very nature, skepticism around centralising a project around a set of private investors remains the concern of aspects of the community.

DeFi is supposed to be decentralised finance, featuring open and public protocols after all. For this reason, questions around centralised VC money coming in and having the ability to exert control, should therefore definitely be asked.

New DeFi Synths now available for trading

There is a Place for VC Money within DeFi

But in the case of this particular announcement, the significance of the $12 million raised is not so much the dollar value, but mainstream belief in both the Synthetix project and wider DeFi industry itself.

In the grand scheme of things, $12 million is barely a drop in the Synthetix pool. The synthetixDAO is currently pushing $3 billion USD in its treasury!

But what this announcement does show, is there is still an appetite for industry knowledge and connections, which only working with the right VCs can offer.

SNZ Market cap is over US $5 billion

Money Continues to Enter the DeFi Space

While we don’t have a crystal ball to tell us the exact direction the DeFi industry is going to take over the next few years, the projects aligned with smart money are certainly going to be front and centre.

One thing for sure is that this won’t be the last piece of exciting news that we hear coming out of the Synthetix camp. If things continue on their current trajectory, the $2.8 billion USD locked in its treasury is just the beginning.

The future of finance is coming faster than we ever anticipated. It’s decentralised and permissionless, while running anywhere and everywhere 24/7.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Investing

More Australian Blockchain Heavy-Hitters Call For Increased Government Support

Following yesterday’s call by Steve Vallas – the CEO of Blockchain Australia, a coalition of blockchain-oriented Australian businesses – more big-league Aussie blockchain experts have joined the call for more government support for this budding industry.

Lagging Behind The USA By About 2 Years

Leigh Daniel Travers – the CEO of DigitalX, a Technology Fast 50 company specializing in customized blockchain solutions – stated that Australian companies typically don’t deal with international markets as much as companies from other countries might. He believes institutional investors are one of the many things that could spur on the rate of crypto adoption in Australia.

“Both of those markets in Australia haven’t seen a lot of adoption compared to global markets. Australians typically haven’t had too much involvement into international markets unless it’s managed on their behalf.”

In addition, he went on to say that there is a relatively well-known consensus in the industry that Australian regulation for new technology is around 2 years behind that of the US, and this has an impact on investors’ willingness to shop around on Aussie markets.

“Australia hasn’t had a Greyscale equivalent and that’s really prevented a lot of investors coming into the marketplace because they want to go through the process they usually go through. Having a familiar vehicle makes a lot more sense and that’s what we’re trying to bring to the market. I think there’s probably a well-understood investment cycle where Australia is 2-3 years behind US markets and that appears to be playing out in the crypto investment market as well.”

These aren’t empty words, either: in a recent update given to the ASX regarding its use of funds, DigitalX made note of the fact that they’ve increased their direct exposure to Bitcoin – as well as other digital assets by more than 70%.