Category: Australia

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Australia Blockchain Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin SV Introduced As An Option On 4 More Online Platforms

The ability to buy and trade Bitcoin SV (BSV) has been enabled on 4 more platforms whose target markets are the UK and Australia.

The platforms who have just gone live with a BSV offering are Bitcoin.com.au – and it’s UK counterpart Bitcoin.co.uk – Coinloft.com.au, and BuyaBitcoin.com.au.

A Blast From The Past

Bitcoin SV – a cryptocurrency that claims to be the only version of Bitcoin that still follows Satoshi’s original vision for a crypto world – is seeking to expand its market and hopefully attract new investors as well as older investors who have had skin in the game for years and remember the days when a pizza was bought for a few thousand bitcoins.

The Bitcoin Association’s Founding President, Jimmy Nguyen, has a positive view of the move by these 4 trading platforms and hopes that this is only the beginning of widespread Bitcoin SV adoption.

“These retail sites help bring digital currencies to the mainstream by making it easy for everyday users to buy BSV.   They also forge new links between the traditional financial system and the digital asset ecosystem.  We look forward to more growth of Bitcoin SV’s ecosystem across the world.”

Coinloft offers a variety of cryptocurrencies for sale on their website that can be paid for through a multitude of payment methods. Aside from the usual online payments done via credit or debit card, you can even buy cryptocurrency on the Coinloft platform from your local post office.

Buyabitcoin is a fintech company based in Melbourne that also allows payment at your local retailer. Like Coinloft, Buyabitcoin also offers its services at Australian Post Offices – and at certain newsstands too.

Whether Bitcoin SV will take off in the current competitive market for cryptocurrencies in Australia is yet to be seen. Between market cornerstones like Ethereum and Bitcoin and new innovative currencies like Qoin, Bitcoin SV may have a hard time establishing itself on the crypto market.

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Australia Blockchain Power Ledger

Australian Blockchain Energy Platform Dives into Property Market

Power Ledger, one of Australia’s most successful blockchain ventures, has announced that it will partner with a Western Australian building company in order to create another real-world implementation of the platform’s unique blockchain-enabled energy market.

Announced on September 14, the new initiative will see Power Ledger partner with Western Australian property developer OP Properties in order to create a new blockchain-enabled apartment complex that integrates the energy tokenization technology of the Power Ledger platform.

Residents living in the soon-to-be developed apartment complex will access savings of up to 50 percent on their annual strata levies due to Power Ledger blockchain technology, saving significant amounts of money on the cost of maintaining common areas.

The development will see 39 new apartments built near the center of Fremantle, with building roofs incorporating a 75kW solar rooftop PV and 670kWh on-site battery storage. The development, apart from integrating energy saving blockchain technology, will also draw from 100 percent green energy sourced from local energy retailer Change Energy.

Residents Cash In on Blockchain Energy Market

The biggest benefit provided to individuals living in the new development is the ability to sell excess solar electricity generated through the solar panel installation. Through Power Ledger, residents are able to sell excess energy in the form of tokenized energy assets, which also allows them to buy back electricity at predetermined prices from the on site battery at an agreed price.

Power Ledger co-founder and Executive Chairman Dr Jemma Green highlighted the unique nature of the new development in statements released to Smart Energy:

“This is the first time we’ve seen such a progressive model being implemented in an apartment building. The development shows what’s possible in residential energy trading when developers commit to renewable energy as part of their early planning.”

Power Ledger is notable for capturing over $34 million in funding during an October 2017 initial coin offering, making it one of the most successful Australian ICOs and blockchain ventures to date.

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Australia Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Qoin means to become yet another pillar of crypto stability

Qoin is an Australian-made cryptocurrency that seeks to join USD Tether and other stablecoins as a currency good for saving assets in — as opposed to the volatile cryptocurrencies not tied to a widely adopted currency.

Qoin, however, does not rely on another currency, but rather on real-world goods and services.

More Takers, More Value

Qoin’s chief marketing officer Andrew Barker says the market for Qoin was envisioned as a currency that anyone can invest in, regardless of the level of expertise. 

More precisely, it is for those investors who might still be queasy about cryptocurrencies, following the notorious tumble in 2017.

“Mums and dads” looking for something more stable to invest in, with the mindset, “I’m not going to make a fortune overnight but I’m not gonna lose a fortune overnight. “So based on each new Qoin merchant who joins the ecosystem, the value of Qoin increases.”

If many merchants affiliated with Qoin were to stop accepting Qoin as a payment method, the value of the cryptocurrency could tumble. However — since its introduction in January of 2020 — the value of the coin has risen from AUD 0.15 to AUD 2.01.

Party limousine operator Chris McMilan has put Qoin stickers on his vehicles to see if the new cryptocurrency garners interest — and he is not alone. From jewelers to grocery stores to service providers, Qoin currently has amassed nearly 8000 partner businesses — and talks with plenty of other businesses are always underway.

This week, Qoin has also launched in New Zealand, a move that proves the interest for the new cryptocurrency is rising. Whether Qoin becomes a big player on the Australian market — and APAC at large — it is a project that fits in nicely with the government’s prediction that by 2030 cryptocurrencies will contribute $3 trillion to the national economy. 

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Australia Crypto News Regulation

AirTree Explorer Program To Make Life Easier For Budding Crypto Investors

The Australian Fintech sector is constantly growing and is already a world leader when it comes to alternative finance – yet all these new companies need investors.

Angel investors and seed round buyers have become rather scarce in recent years. More precisely, the downward spiral has been worsening for the past three years, with 2019 alone showing a nosedive of 46% in volume terms and 29% in aggregate dollars invested.

According to the Australian government, within 10 years all fintech may be blockchain-based. The interest in blockchain-based companies is definitely there, but more funding is needed to spur Australia’s development in fintech. Which is why AirTree have decided to do something to help

Open Source Investing Program For FinTech Companies

Today, Venture Capital firm Airtree has announced its Explorer Program, a pilot program to help support the next generation of technology investors in Australia and NZ, with a focus on new Australian fintech companies.

The Explorer Program is aimed not only at budding investors who may not have too many assets to invest but also at startup founders themselves!

The pilot phase will onboard 20 explorers from across Australia and New Zealand and will give entrepreneurs everything they need to succeed as investors in cryptocurrency startups.

Following an open-source investor education program and networking with professionals eager to lend them a hand, the selected entrepreneurs will receive a cheque to invest in fintech startups.

“For any Explorer that introduces us to a company that we invest in, we’ll bring you in on the investment alongside AirTree by giving you a small cheque to invest. There are no weird complications — you become like any other shareholder on the cap table, and you maintain your own relationship with the founders. You can start to build your own track record — but without needing piles of your own cash to invest. “

Applications to the AirTree Explorer program are open until the 30th of September – so if you’re looking into becoming an investor, give it a shot!

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Australia Commodities Cryptocurrency Law

Australian University Detects GDPR Conflict With Blockchain

A recent finding by the University of South Australia casts doubt on the legality of blockchain transactions when met with European privacy standards.

According to the new research, blockchain can violate important European Union laws that are part of the well known GDPR agreement – due to the fact that blockchain stores all information about a buyer, or a seller.

Dr. Kirsten Wahlstrom, a researcher working in the field of cryptocurrency technology weighed in on the resurgence of blockchain technology, comparing it to the anonymous wild west the Internet was 20 years ago.

“We’re at a really delicate point with this because, increasingly, societies and economies are organised around data, and that has huge implications for privacy. The main problem is, we’re still struggling to understand what ‘privacy’ actually means in an online world. It’s not the same as data security and protection, it’s about how individuals control their whole online identity, and expectations around that change from person to person and situation to situation.”

Dr. Kirsten noted the fact that the definition of privacy is changing – and more so due to the mainstream adopting of blockchain, which makes it impossible for a blockchain contributor to hide their identity if previously revealed.

The European Union’s “Right To Be Forgotten” has been a relief for privacy buffs worldwide – yet Dr. Kirsten states that as long as the EU GDPR stays the way it is, blockchain technologies may not see widespread adoption within the EU. If information is permanently stored within a blockchain, EU laws would, at the moment, prevent the information necessary to catch a bad actor from being used in an international court case.

Dr. Kirsten is in favour of delving deep into the ethics regarding the privacy owed to each human being. Optimistic about the future of blockchain, she nevertheless admits it might take a while until the technology is properly regulated by all relevant bodies.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News

Aussie Banks Served With Blockchain Wake-Up Call by Work Economic Forum

The rapid evolution of the international financial ecosystem has resulted in a new wave of forward-leaning institutional organizations adopting a hybridized approach to finance technology, integrating blockchain and AI in order to create a new world of finance — and Aussie banks are paying close attention.

The World Economic Forum’s recently-published Future of AI and Automation in Financial Services report, released as a 200-page slide deck on Thursday, focuses solely on innovation and change within the financial ecosystem, and is set to significantly disrupt the way Australian banks do business.

Banks around the world, according to the World Economic Forum, are currently working closely with some of the largest providers of cloud computing power globally, leveraging decentralized processing power in order to accelerate data analytics and experiment with AI-drivel solutions.

The new competitive landscape emerging from the fintech ecosystem has already galvanized change within Australian finance — National Australia Bank is currently in discussions with Amazon Web Services, mirroring the actions of other banks around the world such as Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Citibank, who have teamed up with Google, IBM, and Microsoft respectively.

Blockchain, AI, Cloud Computing Set to Rearrange Australian Finance

Cloud computing and blockchain technology, paired with artificial intelligence services creates unique use cases that are highly attractive to large-scale banking enterprises. Dynamic cash flow assessments, for example can support the gig economy, while integrated blockchain-enabled biometrics are a game changer for the insurance industry.

Arthur Calipo, operator of the lead financial service practice in Australia for Deloitte, highlighted the importance of adaptation for Australian financial platforms in statements released to the Australian Financial Review:

“It’s not so much about the threat of competition from Google, Apple and Amazon, but about these companies embedding themselves as enablers for financial institutions to increase value – and this points to the need to create alliances,” 

Members of Australia’s big five banks are taking the disruptive nature of fintech and blockchain seriously — IBM’s global head of cloud computing is scheduled to brief over 20 Australian banking and insurance sector executives on Friday 11th September regarding advanced automation, blockchain, and AI in the banking sector at a Trans-Tasman Business Circle event.

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Australia Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies

Australian National Jailed For Buying Controlled Substances With Cryptocurrency

Thomas Nickless, a 27-year-old port worker, has received a 2-year sentence – out of which he must serve eight months – for attempting to import illegal substances into Australia via the dark web via post to the Victorian coastal hamlet of Metung.

The Australian Border Force has seized five parcels addressed to the defendant, over a period of nine months between May 2018 and February 2019.

Cryptocurrency Used For Untraceability

The packages – which were addressed to Nickless from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands – contained 61 grams of MDMA (also known an ecstasy), 9.8 grams of cocaine, and 35.3 grams of other amphetamines.

Nickless had used cryptocurrency to purchase the drugs, a practice made common back in 2011 before by the Silk Road .onion website – which has since been taken down by the FBI.

“The attempted importations were part of your small-scale business to bring drugs into Australia by post, pick them up at the Metung post office, use them yourself and sell small amounts to friends and acquaintances,” said County Court Judge Gerard Mullaly.

Nickless had bought a total of 15 similar parcels from the deep web using cryptocurrency, but only 5 were stopped by the Australian Border Force.

This is not the first drug-related offence of the defendant – in March 2019, a police raid on Nickless’ house yielded small amounts of ketamine, Xanax, and MDMA, as well as several home-grown marijuana plants.

Even though the scale of the busted operation was relatively small compared to other drug deals made on the black market, the jury decided a non-custodial sentence would not be appropriate.

Thomas Nickless pleaded guilty to seven charges including trafficking offences, attempting to import a border controlled drug, and possession.

Although Nickless was sentenced to two years in prison,  he is only obligated to serve eight months as part of a recognizance release order.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News

Aussie Microcaps Create Blockchain Solutions to Track COVID Cure

The international race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 ahead of potential national rollouts has involved hundreds of pharmaceutical companies around the world — including Australian blood products enterprise CSL.

A number of Aussie tech companies are taking vaccination efforts further, developing the blockchain-powered infrastructure that will handle distribution.

Blockchain technology has a critical role to play in the fight against COVID. The immutable nature of blockchain technology allows supply chain enterprises to track the distribution of vaccines on decentralized ledgers, ensuring that all vaccines are delivered free from tampering and tracked from manufacture to administration.

Security Matters, a publicly traded Australian company, is currently developing a chemical-based hidden barcode system that works in tandem with unique reader technology, supported by blockchain architecture. 

Tracking COVID Vaccines on the Blockchain

The Security Matters supply chain tracking and quality assurance platform focuses on creating a physical to digital twin for tracked products, and is currently working on an application that will mark pharmaceutical products — including the COVID vaccine — with blockchain-tracked codes. 

Security Matters CEO Haggai Alon highlighted the ability of the blockchain-enabled tracking platform to assist in the distribution of pharmaceuticals in interview statements:

“We have been consulting with a number of major drug companies on how our application can benefit the sector amidst so much uncertainty,”

The pharmaceutical tracking application, set to launch in 2021, could potentially streamline the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Australia — but Security Matters isn’t the only platform focused on leveraging blockchain technology in the fight against Coronavirus. 

The APAC Provenance Council, for example, is currently working with VeChain in order to integrate blockchain technology into the food supply chain in order to promote COVID-proof food distribution.

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Australia Blockchain Cryptocurrency Law

Lygon Blockchain Guarantee Solution To Go Commercial

Recently, ANZ Bank, Westpac, and Commonwealth Bank joined forces to found Lygon, a company that will switch traditional bank guarantees signed on paper for blockchain-based smart contracts.

Now – after a successful pilot with its founders and 20 other Aussie businesses – Lygon seems to be going commercial.

 Speeding up SLAs

Up until now, banks would issue physical guarantees after an arduous KYC procedure that could take up to a month to complete.

With Lygon, the expected SLA has shrunk to a single day. The three Australian banks ANZ, Westpac, and CBA Switch – partnered with the Scentre Group – are planning to market the Lygon platform for commercial use, according to a report published on the 1st of September.

When asked for comment, Nigel Dobson, the chairman of Lygon, stated the following:

“The commercialization of the Lygon platform represents a significant milestone for blockchain technology in Australia and globally. We’ve gone from a proof of concept to a newly incorporated company and commercially available platform in two years – at a time when the demand for digital has never been stronger. In digitizing a bank guarantee, we’ve essentially transformed a three-way contract. We’ve digitized the paperwork, the process, and the legality behind it. This means wherever there’s a manual, paper-based process based on legal frameworks or similar regulations, we can apply Lygon.”

Lygon is reported to have brought new applicants on board within in under 15 minutes – a great show of interest in the platform to be certain.

In addition to checking potential customers credit, Lygon will support several common bank operations such as including amendments and cancellations.

After the commercial launch of the blockchain banking platform, Lygon shareholders say they plan to expand into New Zealand and other international markets in 2021. In order to garner more interest in the platform, the developers have promised more features to come soon.

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Australia Blockchain China

Australian Blockchain Startup Wins Australia’s Biggest Design Award

The results of Australia’s Peak most prestigious international design award — the Good Design Award — have been announced, with Aussie blockchain startup Beefledger taking home the Good Design 2020 Award in two categories. 

BeefLedger is primarily focused on streamlining transactions in the beef supply chain industry, offering blockchain-based solutions that track Aussie beef throughout the international supply chain. The platform won recognition in Good Design’s Commercial Services category for the award, with Good Design noting the “outstanding design” and innovation offered by BeefLedger.

The BeefLedger platform primarily focuses on reducing the $40 billion dollars in fraud that occurs annually within the Australian food supply chain, using blockchain-enabled beef provenance tracking and a blockchain-powered credentialing platform in order to minimize fraud and falsely labeled products.

BeefLedger Gets Aussie Farmers Paid Faster

Notably, BeefLedger incorporates smart contracts into an international cross-border payments platform that streamlines the international export and payment within the Australian beef industry, minimizing administrative friction and helping Aussie farmers get paid faster.

Judges presiding over the 2020 Good Design Awards highlighted BeefLedger’s innovative approach, focusing on the platform’s forward-leaning incorporation of decentralized solutions:

“A strong design combining mature approaches with newly developed blockchain technologies for an elegantly simple result. It’s a great example that demonstrates the intersection of data and design.”

By integrating blockchain technology into the Australian beef export supply chain, BeefLEdger embeds authentic regional data into the packaging and credentials provided to consumers that purchase Aussie beef in China, connecting multiple stakeholders in the supply chain for mutual benefit.