Category: Blockchain

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Australia Bitcoin Blockchain

Iris Energy Doubles Their Fund-Raising Target

An Australian company that splits its activities between bitcoin mining and operating a data center, Iris Energy has passed it’s pre-IPO funding target of AUD 20 million with flying colours. Following an unexpected financial commitment from Platinum Asset Management, they’ve decided to increase their target to AUD 40 million.

Double The Planned Revenue, Double The Planned Power

Platinum Asset Management has committed to offering AUD 13 million worth of capital ahead of the planned IPO.

At least a part of these funds will go towards building a 50 megawatt data centre in the Canadian region of British Columbia – which will supplement their currently funded data centre which will be capable of providing up to 30 megawatts – a move that will greatly increase their future capacity.

For now, their mining operation depends on only 9 megawatts of power – that is, until the capabilities of the current site are upgraded.

It is unclear whether the new data center will be used for mining Bitcoin as well – although the temperature of British Columbia would definitely seem suitable for anyone who’s dealt with racks of GPUs and servers.

In a separate statement, Iris Energy also informed investors of a planned change in management, hiring the former CEO and the former CFO of the energy and infrastructure business DUET Group, which is listen on the ASX and was worth approximately $13 billion in 2017, when the business was sold to CKI.

The two of them will most likely be occupying the position of independent chair and chief executive.

The company also has a marked interest in remaining as environmentally-friendly as possible – a trait that stands to further their success in a world ever more aware of the necessity of keeping the planet an inhabitable place for all.

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Blockchain Cardano Cryptocurrencies

Cardano Becomes A Multi-Asset Blockchain

Following today’s hard form – codenamed Mary – Cardano will allow other blockchain-based firms to make and run their own tokens on the Cardano blockchain.

Expanding A Booming Cryptocurrency

Cardano (ADA) has enjoyed a spectacular growth in recent weeks – as well as some open endorsements, such as the one by rockstar and investor Gene Simmons, who recently bought $300,000 worth of ADA and motivated his decision as an investment into a “cryptocurrency for everyone”.

“ Why did I buy Cardano (ADA)? Well, for one thing, it’s affordable to almost everyone. It’s pennies compared to my other holdings like Bitcoin, which is over $50,000 a single coin. I believe everyone should be able to afford cryptocurrency. And here is one I believe in.”

Back in 2017, Ethereum sparked the so-called “altcoin revolution” by allowing other companies to mint their own tokens on the Ethereum blockchain – and they have since become and maintained their position as the 2nd largest cryptocurrency.

With a bit of luck, Cardano – a cryptocurrency already favourable to new developments and use cases – will see a similar growth.

The company behind Cardano – named IOHK – have been testing the update for around a month and have reportedly received positive feedback from exchanges and other blockchain-based companies regarding the fork.

“We’ve been testing it for almost a month, and the test looks good, exchanges are happy.”

Charles Hoskinson – the founder of IOHK – presented the hard fork of Cardano as a “historic moment”.

Before founding IOHK and Cardano, Hoskinson was a co-founder of Ethereum and BitShares – and it seems the prior experience has been put to good use, with ADA recently becoming the 3rd largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

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Australia Blockchain Industries

APS Blockchain Conference To Promote Blockchain Adoption In Government

The first APS Blockchain event to take place in 2021 will be hosted on Friday, the 12th of March.

Presented by the APS Blockchain Network – in collaboration with MIT – the conference will aim to drive adoption of blockchain technology across all levels of the public sector.

Discussing New Ways To Implement Blockchain

Alongside the South Australian Government, MIT will be there to discuss their digital currency pilot – named Project Ubin. Project Ubin launched in Singapore in 2016 and is an international endeavour that seeks to improve the way clearances work, in the world of regular payments – and it aims to bring improvements in the financial area that deals with securities as well.

At the conference – which public servants from all over Australia are encouraged to attend – the presenters will be laying out the key takeaways from their research, and discussing ways that blockchain can be implemented in the public sector.

This conference comes not long after Blockchain Australia called for more government support for blockchain.

According to Steve Vallas – the CEO of Blockchain Australia – investors need more confidence that the government will support blockchain technology before committing to the same degree they do in the USA.

“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.”

The meeting will be held online on the Webex platform in nearly 2 weeks’ time.

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Australia Blockchain

Due to Lack of Education, 70% of Australian Businesses are Missing Out on Blockchain and Fintech Technology

Australia has been a crypto-friendly APAC country for several years, providing a solid ground for fintech companies and the issuance of digital assets.

But despite the record-number of DeFi and Fintech development of several companies in the last month, over 70% of Aussie businesses are missing out on fintech technology.

According to a report from accounting body CPA Australia and Airwallex —called “The Role of FinTech in Modernising Businesses” —only a third of businesses in the Asia-pacific area are willing to implement fintech and blockchain-related technologies.

Main Concerns for Aussies Businesses

Australia is currently a leading APAC country in fintech usage. Although, at least 70% of Aussie businesses are not willing to implement these technologies. One of the main concerns for Aussies was “cybersecurity reasons”.

Several respondents were not educated in these digital spaces, and, naturally, some of them have fear of data leaks, and security and trust concerns.

Although, Australia is a leading country when it comes to fintech and digital assets, around 40% of businesses are unaware of fintech technology.

Despite the several benefits —and challenges as well— that fintech and blockchain technology can bring to Australians, over 70% remain unsure about transitioning to these digital environments.

Educating Aussies in Digital Areas

Several Aussie businesses still struggle with high banking fees and the inability of establishing international bank accounts.

The main problem, accordingly, relies on the lack of education regarding blockchain and fintech-related areas in businesses and finance in general.

Australian businesses are falling behind their international counterparts when it comes to the uptake of fintech solutions. The current business environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic has made digital technologies more essential than ever before.

Stated Gavan Ord, Manager at CPA Australia, for Australian Fintech.

To address these issues, Airwallex and CPA Australia are aiming to educate Aussies so they can jump in on the set of benefits that blockchain and fintech technology can bring to their businesses. We have also seen recently TAFE Queensland list blockchain courses for Advanced Diplomas of Applied Blockchain.

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Australia Blockchain Industries

Blockchain Australia And RMIT Call For More Government Support For Blockchain Tech

As the number one local coalition of blockchain-associated companies, Blockchain Australia Solutions stated that although the Australian government has been taking great steps to improve the fintech and blockchain ecosystem in Australia, measures taken are beginning to lag behind those taken by other countries.

Australia Is Well-Placed To Become A Tech-Savvy Economy

Steve Vallas – the CEO of Blockchain Australia – noted that although certain steps have already been taken by the Australian government – such as the National Blockchain Roadmap – have greatly improved the adoption of blockchain-friendly regulation across Australia, the country has started to lag behind other countries when it comes to blockchain – and in turn, this could hurt Australia’s chances of attracting investors.

“I think everyone knows that we have a very good regulatory framework, but the sign doesn’t say ‘Open for business’ with respect to this technology, so, when we look at some of the custodian businesses and the like that are taking shape in the United States, they’re not naturally coming to Australia because no one is saying that this is a welcoming environment and you can trust our regulatory framework, and we’re open to a conversation about what these businesses could do in Australia.”

Steve Vallas’ statements were accompanied by those of three lawyers and economists from RMIT, who noted that Australia is currently in a good spot to work on blockchain-related regulation – but that the government must act quickly before other governments take the lead and attract potential investors.

Dr. Darcy Allen – an economist affiliated with RMIT – also noted the importance of digitalizing the economy, and making blockchain-based records accessible to Australian regulators.

It’s worth noting that these remarks pertaining to expanding blockchain support to attract fintech investors to Australia echo the sentiments of Senator Andrew Bragg, a notorious “friend in high places” of blockchain technology.

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Blockchain Crypto News DeFi

Top Blockchain Dapps by 30-day Transactions Volume

Binance Australia Tops BTC Market in Bitcoin and Ether 24-Hour Volume

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is gradually peaking into the mainstream. There has been a massive increase in participation, users, and new decentralized protocols. This is evident as the total value of assets locked in these protocols has significantly increased to almost $40 billion, per DeFi Pulse. As of February 11, 2020, this same industry only had a valuation of about $1 billion. 

The lending protocols dominate the entire DeFi space, with a total valuation of $17.9 billion. Maker might be the largest decentralized finance protocol by TVL, but not the top protocol in terms of transaction volume over the past 30 days.

Leading Dapps by Transaction Volume

According to data curated from DappRadar, the top ten decentralized applications by monthly transaction volume include

  • Venus
  • dYdX
  • Compound
  • Uniswap
  • Curve Finance
  • SushiSwap
  • Yearn Finance
  • Autofarm
  • Aave
  • PancakeSwap

As per DappRadar, Venus (XVS) is the top decentralized protocol by monthly transaction volume. The algorithmic money market protocol for BEP-20 assets gained US$54,520 million in volume in the past 30 days. dYdX, a decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform, sees about US$32,970 million within the same period, followed by the leading protocol, Compound, with a US$32,690 million transaction volume.

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The largest decentralized exchange by TVL, Uniswap, follows the list with more than US$28 million. Curve Finance and SushiSwap recorded about US$26,700 million and US$16,910 million, respectively. SushiSwap has been the biggest competitor for Uniswap when compared to the value of assets locked. Uniswap has a TVL of US$3.93 billion, while SushiSwap closes in with US$3.63 billion. 

SushiSwap almost overtook Uniswap during the end of its liquidity incentive program last year. Since that period, it has been neck and neck battle for both DEXes. 

Aside from Yearn Finance, which sees US$12,780 million, other Dapps have less than $10 million in transaction volume. These include Autofarm (US$8,610 million), Aave (US$3,170 million), and PancakeSwap (US$2,900 million).

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Blockchain Crypto News DeFi

Decentralized ICOs (DAICOs) Could Enable Blockchain Startups To Raise Funding Securely Through DeFi

A new technology called DeFi (Decentralized Finance) is trying to solve the participant risk problem in startup investing, which was a fatal flaw in ICOs. Hopefully we can now use technology to protect early investors.

You may have heard of ICOs during the 2017 crypto boom. Thousands of ICOs we’re started and abandoned as early investors lost their money.

Decentralized projects such as PAID Network and Polkadot are trying to innovate solutions that can allow people to participate in crowdfunding early technology startups with lower risk by introducing:

  • Decentralized escrow
  • Smart contracts to release funds at specific dates
  • Community voting to determine project milestones and audits
  • Return of funds to investors upon dispute resolutions

What is a DAICO?

DAICO stands for Decentralized Autonomous Initial Coin Offering. DAICOS may offer a most robust solution to protect investors and lower risk through community voting, reputation scoring and dispute resolutions.

Startup Crowdfunding Using Smart Contract Mediation

The PAID Token whitepaper mentions use cases for DAICOS to enable blockchain startups to launch crowdfunding on the PAID Network DAICO Platform, where the funds are locked in escrow smart contracts and released on set dates.

Community Voting To Access Funds

The PAID community investors can vote to release funds to the startup or raise issues, which the startup would need to rectify or the funds would get redistributed back to the token sale participants.

Ignition Platform

PAID’s Ignition platform will allow token holders the opportunity to participate in public token auctions. Blockchain-based token projects to offer their private and public auctions to participants, leveraging both PAID Network and Polkadot technology.

Mockup of the Ignition Platform – Similar to Polkastarter

Ignition will initially support Ethereum based projects and then offer multi-chain through Polkadot. The project recently raised $150,000 in January 2021.

Polkastarter

Polkastarter is a protocol built for cross-chain token pools and auctions, enabling projects to raise capital on a decentralized, permissionless and interoperable environment based on Polkadot.

Polkastarter Investment Pools – powered by Polkadot

Conclusions

DeFi could revolutionize how we do global finance, but is an early technology that has not been fully tested and regulated. We have seen hackers take millions recently from DeFi platforms.

As always, be diligent when participating in early investment opportunities, do your own research and seek expert financial advice.

Categories
Australia Blockchain

CBA, Westpac, ANZ Issues First Digital Bank Guarantee on Blockchain

CBA, Westpac, ANZ Issues First Digital Bank Guarantee on Blockchain

Lygon, a blockchain consortium of five organizations in Australia, has issued the first-ever digital bank guarantee in the country using blockchain technology. Bank guarantees are a pillar of financial systems worldwide. However, Australia has since relied on the traditional system of issuing these guarantees. Today’s development is considered as a major milestone that will digitize the process of commercial banking in Australia, according to the report on Tuesday.

First Paperless Bank Guarantee in Australia

The blockchain platform was formed by three banks in Australia – Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Westpac, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) – together with IBM Australia and Scentre Group. The platform is focused on streamlining the banking process in Australia, and it’s powered by the IBM blockchain network. For more than 200 years, banks in the country mostly issued paper-based guarantees.

This traditional method of issuing bank guarantees was not only time-consuming but also expensive. It wasn’t also the most transparent method, which led to the establishment of Lygon. Basically, this platform is aimed at digitizing the entire process of paper-based guarantees through blockchain technology, which has been achieved today. 

Lygon will Ensure Transparency with Blockchain 

“Lygon is paperless, transparent, accessible, and standardized, removing the inefficiencies, costs, and risks associated with a paper-based system,” said Lygon’s chief, Justin Amos. “The ability to reduce the risk of fraud and handling errors is a major advantage to Lygon, particularly given the heightened focus on digital security for businesses of all sizes and scale these days.”

According to Amos, the Lygon blockchain will be expanded to include other financial services in the country. The technology can be used to improve the processes with payment guarantees and financial instruments like performance bonds.

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Blockchain DeFi Institutions

Federal Reserve Bank Researcher Suggests DeFi May Lead To A More Robust and Transparent Financial Infrastructure

In a recent research paper published by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (regarded as the top 1% of all economic research departments worldwide 1), suggests that Decentralised Finance (DeFi) could potentially lead to a paradigm shift in the financial industry.

The research includes an in-depth, highly technical analysis of the main areas of DeFi technology including smart contracts, the use of stablecoins and opportunities and risks.

What is DeFi

The paper explains DeFi as “The term generally refers to an open, permissionless, and highly interoperable protocol stack built on public smart contract platforms, such as the Ethereum blockchain. It replicates existing financial services in a more open and transparent way. In particular, DeFi does not rely on intermediaries and centralized institutions.”.

We have recently seen the DeFi marketcap surpass $10 Billion and some DeFi coins go parabolic in price during our market analysis news articles.

Opportunities

DeFi may increase the efficiency, transparency, and accessibility of the financial infrastructure. Moreover, the system’s composability allows anyone to combine multiple applications and protocols, thereby creating new and exciting services.

Risks

DeFi also has certain risks, namely, smart contract execution risk, operational security, and dependencies on other protocols and external data.

DeFi Applications

The paper explains DeFi applications: “DeFi already offers a wide variety of applications. For example, one can buy U.S. dollar (USD)-pegged assets (so-called stablecoins) on decentralized exchanges, move these assets to an equally decentralized lending platform to earn interest, and subsequently add the interest-bearing instruments to a decentralized liquidity pool or an on-chain investment fund.”

DeFi Architecture

DeFi uses a multi-layered architecture, as seen below.

The DeFi Stack

The paper then goes onto explain the following topics in great detail:

  • Decentralized Exchange Protocols
  • Smart Contract-Based Reserve Aggregation
  • Peer-to-Peer Protocols
  • Decentralized Lending Platforms
  • Collateralized Debt Positions
  • Decentralized Derivatives
  • On-Chain Asset Management

Conclusion

It’s great to see this type of research being done, as it explains everything in tremendous detail. And also takes into account both sides of the risks and potential use cases of DeFi in the future. Find out more about Economic Research at the St. Louis Fed.

[1] As determined by the citation ranking tracked by the independent, volunteer-run RePEc service

Categories
Australia Blockchain

WePower, MoJo Partner to Debut Blockchain-based Renewable Energy Trading for Australians

WePower, MoJo Partner to Debut Blockchain-based Renewable Energy Trading for Australians

The Energy industry is one sector where blockchain technology plays a significant role, especially in energy trading. 

WePower has reportedly partnered with an Australian solar-focused electricity company, Mojo Power, to enable retail electricity users in Australia to purchase renewable energy. WePower is a blockchain-based green energy financing and trading platform. Under the agreement, WePower will deliver its retail power purchase agreements (Retail PPAs) to Mojo’s upcoming energy trading marketplace, according to the announcement on Wednesday.

Mojo Power plans a Blockchain-based energy trading platform

Mojo is looking to establish a marketplace where corporate customers and other businesses in Australia can source and purchase renewable energy, as a standard retail energy contract, according to the report. The planned marketplace will run on the Ethereum blockchain, essentially allowing energy production companies, including Robinvale Solar Farm in Victoria (VIC), to find buyers for their energy produced easily. 

“The initial wholesale PPA between Robinvale’s owners and Mojo is tokenized by WePower and stored on the Ethereum blockchain so that it can be structured into smaller retail PPAs and made available to these customers,” Kaspar Kaarlep, the chief technology officer at WePower, explained. He added that the tokenization of the transaction on blockchain forms a “direct contractual link between the generating project and the end customer’s energy purchase.” 

The development today will basically make it easier for Australian consumers to access energy while also allowing renewable energy producers to locate buyers. As reported, Mojo Power has also sealed a contract with the Riverina Solar Farm in New South Wales and other solar-focused energy-producing companies around Australia. These energy producers will be included in the upcoming Mojo marketplace “with multiple other agreements currently in the pipeline.”

Blockchain in Australia’s Energy Sector

Notably, Australia has many energy-focused companies building on a blockchain, and today’s news isn’t the first instance involving the technology. About five months ago, Crypto News Australia reported that TYMLEZ would partner with Tyalgum Energy, a private company in New South Wales, to decentralize green energy trading on a blockchain.