The Australian state of Victoria has this week introduced new laws allowing the seizure of assets including crypto if criminals are caught with guns or drugs.
Under the legislation, a conviction for possessing a trafficable quantity of firearms, as well as drug and sexual offences, will trigger the automatic forfeiture of assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Jaclyn Symes, Attorney-General of Victoria. Source: bendigoadvertiser.com.au
According to Victoria’s Attorney-General, Jaclyn Symes, the proposed new legislation will “better reflect the realities of modern policing”.
These reforms will provide law enforcement with greater opportunities to confiscate proceeds of crime, ensuring there’s no payday for criminals.
Jaclyn Symes, Attorney-General, Victoria
Crypto Exchanges Forced to Provide Customer Information
Cryptocurrency exchanges will be compelled to hand over information about suspects much in the same way as banks are able to seize digital wallets. Powers to obtain electronic data from computers and storage devices, and authorising specialised tradespeople such as locksmiths to search a criminal’s property, will also be facilitated.
Intelligence officers would also no longer need the approval of the Chief Commissioner of Police to investigate online predators, making it easier for police to assume fake identities to infiltrate online child grooming profiles.
Court oversight of search warrants would be streamlined under the reforms, though Victoria Police has issued assurances that “safeguards would remain in place”.
These would include court directions that seized items – including cryptocurrencies – be returned to owners. Victims of crime will also be eligible for more compensation from the proceeds of forfeited property. Whether that also includes crypto was not specified.
Cryptocurrencies are also called “cryptos” or “alt coins”.
They are referred to as alternative coins because many cryptocurrencies are copies of Bitcoin. In each case people literally copied the computer program code, changed a few things and renamed it as a new coin.
Some alternative cryptos are actually trying to improve Bitcoin’s code and develop new features. However, many of these new cryptos are meaningless and have no value, some are even known and proved to be scams.
There are currently over 5,000 of these cryptos on the internet, and more are being created every day.
Usually you need to buy Bitcoin first, and then trade that Bitcoin for the cryptocurrencies you want. However, some crypto exchanges provide means of buying the most popular cryptocurrencies directly without buying Bitcoin first.
The words Crypto and Coin can be interchangeable. They mean the same thing.
Crypto Tokens, however, are different, as they are usually issued by a crypto company. You can trade tokens for goods and services.
For example, crypto tokens could be issued in loyalty programs for discounts or offered to represent ownership, in full or part of a digital asset.
The most common tokens are ERC20, provided by Ethereum. These smart crypto tokens often serve as the transaction units on the blockchain and introduce the concept of smart contracts.
Bitcoin has experienced a massive surge in value over the last couple of years, reaching an all-time high of 90,000 AUD in 2021 and catapulting cryptocurrency into the mainstream media. Despite this dramatic increase in popularity and adoption rates, there are still many issues left unresolved with the Bitcoin network.
While Bitcoin may be the undisputed champion of the cryptocurrency arena, there are more than 1,300 different digital currencies, crypto coins and tokens that are currently being traded on the cryptocurrency markets. While most of these altcoins are either redundant or highly niche-specific, there are few key cryptos that present cryptocurrency investors with viable and potentially promising Bitcoin alternatives.
What’s Going Wrong With Bitcoin?
Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, originally devised the cryptocurrency as a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” that would revolutionise, democratise, and decentralise the current international financial paradigm. The massive increase in popularity and value that Bitcoin has experienced over the past year, however, has left the Bitcoin network slow, unwieldy, and far from this original objective.
The core issue with the Bitcoin network at this point in time is a specific parameter called “block size limit”. The “block” in “blockchain” refers to a cryptographically encoded list of all transactions that have occurred over the network in the previous 10 minutes. In 2010, the size of each block was limited to 1 megabyte in order to prevent hacking attacks, but with the massive increase in transaction frequency that has occurred recently, this block size limit is now crippling the Bitcoin network.
The 1 megabyte block size limit means the Bitcoin network can only support a potential maximum of seven transactions per second, which means transactions can sometimes take as long as 24 hours in average transaction times or longer to complete during peak periods.
Bitcoin network participants that help process transactions will treat transactions with higher fees as high priority, resulting in transaction fees as high as $55 USD in January 2017. There are a number of solutions that aim to solve these issues, such as the Lightning Network layer, but these developments present their own unique issues.
The birth of the Lightning mainnet can be viewed live as a new layer grows organically on top of the Bitcoin network. For comparison, it’s possible to view a 3D live visualisation of the current Bitcoin Network on Bitnodes. The nature of the Lightning Network solution, however, means that the network will be centralised around major hubs as illustrated in the visualisation below:
Lightning Network Testnet Visualisation Courtesy of Steven Roose.
Centralisation is antithetical to the core tenets of blockchain technology, so there is an understandable amount of controversy within the Bitcoin and blockchain community as to whether the Lightning Network will solve the issues that plague the Bitcoin network at this point in time.
The high value of Bitcoin has also led many investors to “HODL”, a humorous acronym derived from a typo in a Bitcointalk Forum post in 2014 that refers to “holding on for dear life”. Many investors purchase Bitcoin in order to use it as a method of storing value, not for use as currency, promoting hoarding.
Lastly, the extreme surge in Bitcoin popularity has captured the attention of regulatory bodies around the world. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has recently been provided with new powers to investigate Bitcoin traders, while new legislative amendments force crypto exchanges to disclose user information. As a result, more Australian crypto traders are seeking privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.
Fortunately, there are many highly innovative high market cap cryptocurrencies that have the potential to challenge Bitcoin as the de facto king of cryptocurrency. We’ll now proceed to examine the best Bitcoin alternatives for 2018 and find out what makes them prime competitors:
Litecoin is a rising star in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and is focused heavily on facilitating seamless day-to-day payments. Created by Charlie Lee, a former Google thought leader, Litecoin has dramatically increased in popularity since the third quarter of 2017.
Litecoin has maintained a position in the top 10 highest market cap cryptocurrencies for several months now, and is designed with practicality in mind. Lee, speaking at a Coinbase talk in March 2017, elaborated on his vision for Litecoin:
“Bitcoin can be used for like moving millions of dollars between banks, buying houses, buying cars. It’s really secure … Litecoin can be used for cheaper things.”
The technological architecture behind Litecoin allows it to offer significantly faster transaction times than Bitcoin – more than 400% faster. Litecoin also offers a total cap of 84 million individual coins, which makes it more viable as a daily payment system.
One of the most important differences between Litecoin and Bitcoin is the hardware required to participate in mining. Litecoin implements the Scrypt algorithm for cryptographic encryption, which requires less specialised hardware than Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm. This difference could draw more network participants in assisting with network maintenance, speeding up overall growth.
Why buy Litecoin?
With a lower barrier to entry for mining, faster transaction speeds, and a lower per-unit cost, Litecoin is a solid alternative to Bitcoin. With Charlie Lee announcing an upcoming marketing campaign, now could be the ideal time to get on board the Litecoin hype train.
Where to Buy Litecoin:
Swyftx makes it possible to purchase Litecoin via POLi, BPAY and Cash.
Bitcoin Cash is a “fork” of the original Bitcoin blockchain ledger. Launched in July 2017, Bitcoin Cash was created when a team of developers decided they would improve upon the Bitcoin core by increasing block size and implementing a number of other changes. This split is referred to as a fork in the blockchain ecosystem.
The primary goal of Bitcoin Cash is to improve transaction times and lower transaction fees by increasing the size of each block to 8 megabytes instead of just 1. Bitcoin Cash, or BCH, has been a highly successful cryptocurrency since launch. The price of BCH jumped dramatically to around $2,000 in November 2017 when a proposed fix called “SegWit2x” that was intended to resolves issues in the core Bitcoin blockchain failed.
The value of Bitcoin Cash almost doubled to $4,000 in December 2017 when highly popular platform Coinbase announced its support of the coin. Vinny Lingham, who is referred to as the “Bitcoin Oracle”, has stated that he believes Bitcoin Cash will surpass Bitcoin as the number one cryptocurrency:
“The one need is global fast cheap payments … When I look at it from a products standpoint I think the greater demand is for peer-to-peer cash than for digital gold.”
The higher block size of Bitcoin Cash allows the network to resolve more than 50 transactions per second, which dominates the 7 transaction per second limit in place with Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash transaction fees are also significantly lower, with fees averaging around $0.001. Transactions on the Bitcoin Cash network are currently taking just 10 minutes to resolve.
Why Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin’s Lightning Network layer may claim to provide faster transaction times and lower fees, but Bitcoin Cash is already delivering on these promises. If the Lightning Network layer fails to succeed in addressing the issues that plague Bitcoin, then it’s likely Bitcoin Cash could depose Bitcoin as king of the digital currency world.
Where to Buy Bitcoin Cash:
Swyftx allows Australian traders to purchase Bitcoin Cash with credit and debit cards.
Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and is vastly different to Bitcoin in many ways. Created by Vitalik Buterin in 2013, Ethereum has exploded over the past year, increasing in value by more than 12,500 percent.
While both Bitcoin and Ethereum are based on blockchain technology, Ethereum is far from a simple cryptocurrency. Ethereum is a blockchain platform, using “Ether” as a currency token. Ethereum is designed to function as a blockchain platform that enables the creation and execution of “smart contracts”, which are immutable programs executed on Ethereums blockchain networks that control the transfer of cryptocurrency or other digital assets.
Ethereum is often described as the “World Computer” – it can be used to create decentralised applications that manage energy distribution, decentralise digital marketing, or even allow users to share their computer’s processing power in a vastly distributed supercomputer.
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has elaborated on the highly flexible and scalable nature of the Ethereum blockchain:
“You could run StarCraft on the blockchain. Those kinds of things are possible. High level of security and scalability allows all these various other things to be built on top.”
The Ethereum network is currently able to handle around 15 transactions per second, or TPS. Recent comments made by Buterin, however, reveal that the Ethereum blockchain will soon rival Visa, at around 2,000 TPS.
Ethereum is a highly flexible, dynamic and intelligent blockchain platform that is far more functional than Bitcoin, and is currently the driving force behind the most disruptive blockchain-based projects currently under way.
Why Ethereum?
Bitcoin may be the highest-value cryptocurrency, but Ethereum is most definitely here to stay. Ethereum-standardised tokens, or “ERC20” tokens, are used in most initial coin offerings – a technique used by blockchain startups to generate seed capital outside of traditional VC sources.
Ethereum is also set to switch from the energy-intensive “proof of work” consensus method that is currently used in Ether mining to a faster, cheaper and more accessible “proof of stake” method.
Stellar Lumens is a blockchain network that is specifically about “cross-asset transfers of value”. Simply put, Stellar is focused on lowering the cost of transferring assets, such as currency, between individuals.
While Bitcoin has the same fundamental purpose, Stellar is a decentralised, hybrid blockchain that is geared towards streamlining monetary transactions. Stellar Lumens, or XLM, make transactions cheaper, faster and more reliable. However, XLM offers less functionality as a method of storing value when compared to Bitcoin.
Stellar Lumens addresses three primary issues with the current asset transfer paradigm – high transaction costs, slow settlement times, and a lack of liquidity in lesser-used currencies. Stellar Lumens solves these issues by charging a fee of 0.00001 XLM for each transaction. At current market rates, it would be possible to process 100,000 transactions for just under $0.50 USD.
Stellar network transactions are processed within less than 4 seconds, which makes it the fastest network online. As XLM can be used as a bridging currency, it dramatically increases liquidity and makes exchanging lesser-known currencies cost-effective and easy.
Why Stellar Lumens?
Stellar has recently announced partnerships with IBM, Deloitte, and Stripe, making it a highly attractive cryptocurrency to those interested in tokens that integrate with existing financial systems.
Where to Buy Stellar Lumens:
Buying XLM can be a little trickier than purchasing other cryptos in this list. You’ll need to obtain some cryptocurrency to trade for XLM, or get started with an exchange that supports fiat deposits.
Swyftx is one of Australia’s top crypto exchanges with over 300 available cryptocurrencies including XLM. Check out our Australian Exchange Guide to learn more about Swyftx and other Australian exchanges.
Dash is another top ten market cap cryptocurrency and, like Litecoin, is focused on addressing the issues of scalability that are currently troubling the blockchain network. Dash is the brainchild of Evan Duffield and is a Bitcoin fork, but unlike Bitcoin Dash it is heavily focused on protecting the privacy of users.
Since launch in 2014, Dash has experienced a dramatic increase in value. If you invested just $1,000 in Dash at the 2014 price of $0.03, you’d now be sitting on a wallet holding more than $25 million USD worth of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
On the Bitcoin blockchain, it’s possible for anybody to see which wallets are sending how much Bitcoin and where. Dash uses a complicated anonymisation strategy called coinjoin mixing that obfuscates transaction ownership by processing the transactions of multiple parties as one single transaction. This process makes it impossible to determine who received funds, who sent them, or the amount transferred.
This anonymisation technique does slow down transactions per second rates somewhat but still allows Dash to process around 48 TPS, which is 7 times faster than Bitcoin. Dash also offers a much more attractive transaction fee, with an average of $0.10 per transaction.
Why Dash?
The highly secure, private and anonymous nature of Dash could make it a major competitor to Bitcoin as regulatory authorities around the world and within Australia tighten their grip on the explosive cryptocurrency market.
Where to Buy DASH:
You can use Swyftx Crypto Exchange to purchase Dash by funding your trading account with AUD via bank transfer, and credit/debit card payments.
Final Thoughts
Bitcoin may be struggling through some growing pains as the network matures, but it’s still the most valuable and widely used cryptocurrency in the world. The upcoming Lightning Network implementation may provide Bitcoin users with a solution to Bitcoin’s scalability issue.
However, it is always important to diversify your portfolio when cryptocurrency investing to increase your exposure in the crypto market. That is why it is important to gain an understanding of other alternatives to bitcoin.
This is a simple beginner’s guide for people who haven’t bought cryptocurrencies before and are interested in learning about how and where you might buy and store them safely within Australia.
Sign up for a Free Swyftx Account: In just a few clicks, you can Sign up to Swyftx and create your account. You should get a confirmation link to your email once you’ve registered.
Get Verified for Crypto Purchases: Before you can buy cryptos, you’ll need to verify your account. How? Simply upload your passport/drivers licence, or other ID documents.
Deposit Funds: Deposit Australian dollars into your Swyftx using PayID, Bank Transfer, OSKO or BPAY from your bank account.
Purchase Crypto: Now you can buy cryptos instantly.
About Swyftx
Buy, Sell and Trade over 100 Crypto-Assets on Australia’s most progressive Cryptocurrency Exchange. Swyftx is an AUSTRAC registered Australian cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform with tiny spreads, low fees and non-inflated market prices. Trade with stop losses, take profits and triggered orders on a mobile and desktop-ready modern web-based cryptocurrency exchange.
Need more help? Get personal support from the Swyftx support team. For a list of the supported cryptocurrencies and more information, please read our Swyftx review.
While Ukraine (12.7 percent), Russia (11.9%), Venezuela (10.3) and Singapore (9.4) topped the list, the most surprising result was that Kenya (8.5) was the highest-ranking African country, edging out South Africa (7.1) and Nigeria (6.3):
The result for Nigeria is also significant in that out of a population of 211 million, just over 13 million were owners of digital currencies in 2021.
Crypto Awareness Still Low in Australia
By comparison, a recent study conducted by research firm Roy Morgan found that over a million Australians owned some form of crypto, out of a total population of almost 26 million. Another survey published in December last year found that only one in 10 Australians even knew what a cryptocurrency was.
UNCTAD acknowledged in its findings that cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity in some Third World countries because they are “an attractive channel through which to send remittances”.
UNCTAD also found that middle-income individuals from hyperinflation-hit developing countries either own or hold cryptocurrencies because they are seen “as a way to protect household savings”.
In less than a decade, Brisbane IT specialist Joe Bridge turned a small-time household crypto mining hobby into an A$1.2 million profit that enabled him to buy a house outright along with two motorcycles and a pair of boats.
Bridge, now 38, was a law student living at home in 2013 when he installed mining software on three computers and used 10 graphics cards to generate Litecoin and Dogecoin.
Traded $LTC and $DOGE for ‘More Than a Dozen’ BTC
Although the power bills at his parents’ house in Paddington, in Brisbane’s inner west, ramped up to over A$600 per month, Bridge mined enough $LTC and $DOGE to trade it for “more than a dozen” bitcoins. He held on to the BTC until 2017 when the price began to spike, then invested some of his stash on motorbikes and boats.
Joe Bridge at his Clontarf home with one of his motorcycles. Source: ABC News / Alex Papp
By the time bitcoin hit its all-time high in November 2021, Bridge was able to cash out A$880,000 for a house at seaside Clontarf in Brisbane’s northeast, and still had enough left over to pay a $290,000 capital gains tax bill.
Cautionary Advice for Would-Be Investors
No longer active as a crypto investor, Bridge has cautionary advice for anyone thinking of buying the current dip in bitcoin’s price. “I think it’s a dangerous time to be getting into it,” he told ABC News last week. “I would imagine it’s possible [to still make money], though. [But] would I recommend it? No. I’m not currently participating.”
I do think there will be a shake-out and the speculative bubble that surrounds [cryptocurrency] will disappear. Perhaps from the ashes of that, something with real utility to humanity may arise, but there’s a lot of debate about what product that is. I don’t think it’s bitcoin.
Joe Bridge, IT consultant in financial software, former crypto investor
Crypto market cap since November 2021. Source: CoinMarketCap
Caroline Malcolm, the Australian-born head of international policy at crypto security firm Chainalysis, believes the federal government will soon introduce regulatory reforms to offer everyday Australians a higher level of consumer protection.
Regulations Likely Within Next Year
The former head of the OECD’s global blockchain policy centre told attendees at the Chainalysis LINKS conference in Sydney that she believes regulations will be implemented in the next six to 12 months.
Specifically, the focus is likely to relate to advertising standards and prohibited practices, and bringing those in alignment with traditional investment regulations:
Thinking about some of those traditional concepts around market manipulation, for example, and bringing those into crypto space and starting to have some obligations there in terms of whether it be wash trading, front-running, or insider trading.
Caroline Malcolm, head of international public policy and research, Chainalysis. Source: Australian Financial Review
Malcolm noted that the new regulations would require clarity, particularly in the areas of advertising and promotion:
It’s not about banning advertising or banning the sale of particular assets to particular parts of the community. But [it is] really about making sure that there’s no misleading advertising, that there are disclosures about what you’re actually buying when you’re getting into this sector, and making sure that those risks are as clear to you as the opportunities are.
Caroline Malcolm, head of international public policy and research, Chainalysis. Source: Australian Financial Review
‘Australia Can’t Tackle This Alone’
Malcolm suggested that Australia is likely to take a similar approach to the UK, which has brought crypto assets into a similar regime as for other financial products.
Speaking in relation to Australian regulators and the local industry, she added that both have “misconceptions” about risk levels in crypto, and “both need to work together to understand each other’s obligations”. Malcolm argued further that Australian regulators ought to be working with global counterparts to ensure one country’s approach is as consistent as possible with others’.
Australia can’t tackle these issues by itself. We really need to work together to almost have a sandbox for trialling new approaches which cannot just put us in the same position in terms of policy outcomes, but perhaps even put us in a better position to allow us to be more effective in some of these policy objectives that we have.
Caroline Malcolm, head of international public policy and research, Chainalysis. Source: Innovation Australia
While Australians made US$2.1 billion in crypto gains during 2021, it isn’t clear how they have fared thus far in 2022, particularly after the most recent downturn. Arguably, this may be the appropriate time to introduce sensible consumer regulations in alignment with other financial products.
Australian-born Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer has renewed his trenchant criticism of the cryptocurrency industry in an interview to promote his new podcast.
“Increasingly people are doing nothing but making money off doing nothing, it’s kind of f..ked us all up,” Palmer told Cameron Wilsson of Australian online publication Crikey this week. “I wish it was the end of crypto, but it’s not.”
NEW: @ummjackson is the Aussie co-creator of Dogecoin, a meme coin which became one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies, who denounced cryptocurrency as a "hyper-capitalistic technology"
Spruiking his new podcast, Griftonomics – its very title an oblique reference to Palmer’s stance on digital assets – the former crypto evangelist said he thought the industry would have imploded by now and that “people would learn their lesson”.
But increasingly, in the past six months, I’ve seen a continued perseverance. You see these big people with big money getting involved and that means it’s not slowing down.
Jackson Palmer, Dogecoin co-creator, former crypto YouTuber, now podcaster
Send in the Clowns
Palmer wrote off ICOs, DAOs and NFTs as “scams” and denigrated Initial Game Offerings (IGOs) as the industry’s “latest swindle”. Yet he also played down the idea of an imminent crypto winter, saying: “I still see heaps of money being funnelled in by crypto promoters. They’re waiting for a fresh batch of fools to come in. This happens in cycles.”
Publicist Deserves a Raise
Whoever is acting as Palmer’s publicist is clearly not being paid enough, as the newly minted podcaster also popped up on ABC-TV’s Four Corners current affairs show this week, joining a chorus of critics on an episode focusing on cryptocurrency.
“The future crypto offers is more dystopian than utopian,” Palmer was quoted as saying, as past tweets of his were offered as supporting evidence, including this old chestnut: “Despite claims of decentralisation, the cryptocurrency industry is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures.”
Palmer’s bitter Twitter tirade against his former crypto project began soon after he walked away from Dogecoin in 2015, reaching a vitriolic peak in his personal crypto winter last year:
After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world’s fourth-richest man, has told a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session why he doesn’t see any point in investing in cryptocurrency.
“The value of companies is based on how they make great products,” Gates said. “The value of crypto is just what some other person decides someone else will pay for it, so it’s not adding to society like other investments.” He prefaced his comments on crypto by saying:
I don’t own any. I like investing in things that have valuable output.
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Gates has previously described crypto as one tech innovation the world would be better off without. As he noted in February last year: “The way cryptocurrency works today allows for certain criminal activities. It’d be good to get rid of that.”
Gates Echoes Warren Buffett
Gates is certainly not the first of the world’s super-rich to shun cryptocurrency. Billionaire Warren Buffett, CEO of American multinational Berkshire Hathaway, told the company’s annual meeting of shareholders in late April:
“Whether [crypto] goes up or down in the next year, or five or 10 years, I don’t know. But the one thing I’m pretty sure of is that it doesn’t produce anything,” Buffett said. “It’s got a magic to it and people have attached magics to lots of things.”
Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charlie Munger was more scathing, about bitcoin in particular, telling the same meeting: “In my life, I try to avoid things that are stupid and evil and make me look bad … and bitcoin does all three.”
Munger didn’t stop there, either: “In the first place, it’s stupid because it’s still likely to go to zero. It’s evil because it undermines the [US] Federal Reserve System … and third, it makes us look foolish compared to the Communist leader in China [Xi Jinping]. He was smart enough to ban bitcoin in China.”
Never one to hold back, Munger told CNN earlier this year that bitcoin was “akin to a venereal disease”. And not to be outdone, Buffett has previously described crypto as “rat poison squared”.
Other Billionaires Are Bitcoin Fans
Not all billionaires share these extreme opinions, evidently. Several, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, regularly tweet their support of virtual currencies. And last year, Mexico’s third-richest man, Ricardo B. Salinas, invested 10 percent of his personal wealth – a staggering US$1.5 billion – into bitcoin.
As founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, a group of companies with interests in telecommunications, media, financial services and retail stores, Salinas said bitcoin was “the best thing to put your money into”.
Crypto.com has announced that Shopify merchants can now use the exchange to make and receive cryptocurrency payments in their stores.
In a recent blog post, Crypto.com said it would allow all Shopify merchants to accept up to 20 cryptocurrencies as payment using Crypto.com’s Pay feature. These currencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Doge, CRO (Crypto.com’s native token), and more:
Merchants using e-commerce platform @Shopify now have access to @cryptocom as another way for accepting cryptocurrency payments. Sellers using the https://t.co/EhGN3VhesG Pay feature can allow customers to settle their accounts with over 20 tokens!
The exchange will charge zero settlement fees to merchants one month after signing up. After that, only 0.5 percent settlement fees will be applied, much lower compared to 2.5 percent using credit cards. Additionally, Crypto.com’s Pay users can receive up to 10 percent CRO cashback on transactions.
We’re happy to welcome Crypto.com to help Shopify merchants provide an additional fast and convenient way for customers to pay for their online orders. Our growing blockchain ecosystem demonstrates our commitment to supporting merchants with alternative payment methods on their storefronts, helping to further expand what’s possible in commerce.
John S. Lee, lead of Blockchain ecosystem, Shopify
Crypto.com Regaining Ground After Massive Backlash
Crypto.com has been steadily pushing cryptocurrency adoption across the globe, forming new partnerships with companies from different industries so they can enable crypto transactions and payments.
The latest news comes two weeks after the exchange decided to restart its staking rewards program. The company did so after sustained negative feedback from its community after suspending it, causing the CRO token to drop more than 10 percent.
Last month, Crypto News Australiareported that Crypto.com had partnered with South Australia’s Peregrine Corporation to introduce crypto payments in its petrol stations.In January, the global exchange also signed an A$25 million sponsorship deal with the Australian Football League.
