Category: Melbourne

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Australia Ranks 4th in Crypto Job Opportunities Report

As the crypto market continues to expand it has created many niche roles, with skills in technology ranking highest as the prime prerequisite to land a job in crypto.

Many job listings call for specific skills in Java, Machine Learning, Python, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to a report called “Crypto & AI Jobs: The Top Cities & Industries For Opportunities”, Australia ranks fourth, with 385 jobs available in the crypto industry.

Top five countries for crypto jobs. Source: smallbusinessprices.co.uk

The top three cities in Australia for jobs in crypto are Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The data also reveals that the leading industries for crypto jobs are Internet and Technology, Banking and Financial Services, Computer Hardware and Software, Accounting and Finance, and finally Consulting.

The US ranks highest on the global list with a total of 3,893 advertised jobs in the cryptocurrency field. Last year, Crypto News Australia reported that jobs in the crypto and blockchain field grew by 118 percent in 10 months.

AI Job market. Source: smallbusinessprices.co.uk

With the rise of available jobs in niche categories such as AI, Australia also ranks fourth, with a total of 603 jobs available in the field. The top three cities for AI jobs in Australia are Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and the leading industries for jobs linked to AI are Information Technology, Computer Software and Hardware, Consulting, Accounting, Legal, and Internet and Technology.

Australia Gearing Towards Crypto Jobs

The rapid growth of the worldwide crypto market parallels the need for individuals with industry-specific skills. As the report shows, Australia’s high global ranking in crypto employment opportunities is down to implementing better regulation in order to provide incentives for new investors and thus create more jobs in the field for Australians.

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Victoria Emerging Blockchain Leader as Crypto.com Sets Up New Melbourne Offices

According to a media release from the Victoria State Government, Crypto.com, one of the world’s fastest growing cryptocurrency platforms, has chosen Melbourne for its Australian headquarters.

Victoria the ‘Blockchain Powerhouse’

The Singapore-based crypto giant says its choice will “enhance Victoria’s reputation as an emerging blockchain powerhouse” along with the rest of Australia making major strides in the crypto race. Just recently, Chainalysis opened a new office in Canberra in response to an increase in adoption of and demand for its products.

Melbourne was [also] recently selected as the host for the largest blockchain series [of meetings] in the world – The World Blockchain Summit 2022 – and is emerging as a location of choice for global companies operating in this space.

Victoria State Government media release

Crypto.com’s move comes after the Australian Treasury recently announced it would begin to implement crypto regulation, hopefully clearing the murky water crypto businesses currently try to work in.

Due to the nature of Crypto.com’s work and rapid expansion, the company requires a highly skilled workforce to build blockchain applications and services that can operate globally.

Victoria’s Tech Sector Attracts Crypto Companies

Victoria’s tech sector contributes more than A$38 billion to the state’s economy annually and supports more than 139,000 workers across 20,000 businesses.

The state Minister for Economic Development, Tim Pallas, announced that Crypto.com would set up its Australian headquarters to focus on collaboration with globally renowned Victorian universities to increase the company’s technical development capabilities.

Melbourne’s tech ecosystem is an ideal base for Crypto.com to continue to grow, develop innovative services and access world-class talent.

Karl Mohan, Asia-Pacific general manager, Crypto.com

As more crypto giants emerge, they will seek to establish themselves in places that provide regulatory, economic, and political stability. If Australia continues on this trajectory, it may well carve a space for itself as an industry leader.

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Aussie Exchange ACX Case: Blockchain Global Collapses Owing Creditors $21 Million

Australian crypto exchange ACX came in for criticism “multiple times” last year from concerned traders and users who reported they were unable to withdraw funds.

Now the developer of the failed ACX trading platform, Blockchain Global (BGL), has entered voluntary administration, owing creditors A$21 million.

BGL has variously claimed to be the developer, operator and owner of ACX. Administrators were appointed on October 19, less than a month after BGL was ordered to disclose its assets by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Peter Riordan.

$12.3 Million Shortfall in BGL Assets

Sam Lee, CEO of BGL, claims to have stepped down as a director in March 2019 but he retains ownership of the brand. A preliminary administrators’ report dated October 24 revealed a $12.3 million shortfall in assets.

It’s a business decision for existing directors that it is in the best interest of creditors and shareholders to wind up the company. I abstained from all decision-making after my appointment as I didn’t have enough visibility to make informed decisions.

Sam Lee, CEO, BGL

According to the preliminary administrators’ report, BGL has A$8,264,764 in assets including A$5,729,175 in crypto spread across bitcoin, ethereum, MobileGo and XEM, plus A$1.3 million in shares along with another A$1 million in cash held in accounts with the Bank of Melbourne.

The value of BGL’s assets and uncollected debts, however, is far exceeded by its creditors. Since ACX ceased trading and froze the accounts of its users in March last year, an estimated 200 investors – who are understood to have lost as much as A$10 million – have been kept in the dark.

ACX Banned For Life, Digital Currency Licence Revoked

ACX was banned for life by the peak industry body while the financial intelligence regulator AUSTRAC revoked its digital currency licence. Many of those investors have since given up hope of ever getting their money back.

One of them, University of Queensland research fellow Khaled Said, invested “a few thousand dollars” in popular currencies such as Ripple and Ethereum with ACX during the first bitcoin boom in 2017. He lost interest during a downturn but returned to the platform when prices began to recover in 2019, only to find he was one of many who could put money into ACX but could not take it out.

As far as we can tell there are 10 or 20 [investors] who lost a lot, who lost more than half a million, and the rest are people like me who lost a few thousand each.

Khaled Said, ACX investor and creditor

‘Nobody Wants to Take the Case’

Investors say the collapse of the platform has been reported to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Federal Police, various state police, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Cyber Crime Unit and several members of parliament.

Said personally reported his loss to ASIC in August 2020. He was sent a few links to fact sheets and has not heard anything since. “Nobody is willing to take our case, which is really concerning,” Said complains.

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Australia Crypto News Melbourne NFTs Victoria

Melbourne Cup Enters the Metaverse in Historic Deal with Digital Horse Racing Platform

First run in 1861, the Melbourne Cup is Australia’s most famous annual thoroughbred horse race, garnering an estimated viewership of 750 million people worldwide. Next week’s race will see the coming together of the old and new worlds following a deal between the Victoria Racing Club and local digital horse racing platform ZED RUN.

Horse Racing in the Metaverse

ZED RUN is a futuristic horse racing game built on the blockchain, where thousands of stable owners participate in more than 1,500 live races a day which are broadcast 24/7 to millions.

In July this year, Crypto News Australia reported that Australian-based digital horse racing start-up, Zed Run, had raised over US$20 million to “build the future of virtual entertainment“. Since then, the company has grown in leaps and bounds.

‘The Race That Stops a Nation’

Following its recent success in raising funds, ZED RUN is now joining forces with the Victoria Racing Club, the custodians of the Melbourne Cup carnival, where their famous Flemington racetrack will be featured on the blockchain. In celebration, there will be a virtual event at ZEN RUN HQ , held in the metaverse.

Think of it as a watch party, but instead of attending in person, attendees transport themselves to a virtual land called the ‘metaverse’ where they can gather together and enjoy the festivities.

Melbourne Cup ZED RUN

In the metaverse, users will have everything provided, from musical entertainment and livestreaming of the event to free ‘fashion in the metaverse’ and Birdcage-esque attire giveaways that attendees will be able to wear. Attendees can also, if they so choose, buy additional custom-made avatar wearables to further impress at the carnival party.

Metaverse carnival schedule. Source: Melbourne Cup ZED RUN

NFT Auction From October 30 

A rare collection of 10 nostalgic NFTs will become available by auction from October 30 to November 4. Some of the more valuable NFTs will include the most legendary races, together with real-world experiences. In addition, all 10 NFTs will include a pair of tickets to the 2022 Melbourne Cup and one Victoria Racing Club VIP experience.

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Melbourne Street Artist Lushsux Has Made Over $500,000 From NFTs

Lushsux has become one of the most popular street artists in Melbourne, reaching international recognition for his large mural paintings depicting internet meme culture. He has now become one of the highest-paid artists in Australia, selling his NFTs for over $500,000 AUD.

Over the weekend, Lushsux has sold over $130k worth of NFTs with some pieces that originally sold for $333 are today reselling for over $20k.

Some of his most popular (and controversial) paintings represent the latest trends in the meme culture. His artwork ranges from politicians like Donald Trump in the form of ice cream, or popular icons in the crypto scene, including Doge, Elon Musk with a “genetically engineered catgirl” and the CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao with laser eyes.

“Funds are Safu,” a limited edition at Makersplace

In an interview with Coinjar, Lushsux admitted he was not deep into the cryptocurrency space at first, but he saw a great opportunity in it and, especially, in the NFT industry.

The idea of selling JPEGs and other digital content for thousands of dollars seemed like a “cool idea” to him, and he’s now selling his work in markets like Rarible and Nifty Gateway.

I sold a piece called ‘The 8’ for 88.8 ETH, or like $250,000. I’m literally one of Australia’s highest paid living artists. Top 20 at least. And some guy is trying to sell one of my Elon Musk portraits for $1.4 million. You could buy a Whiteley for that price. Or, like, a 2-bedroom house in Melbourne.

Lushsux

NFTs are still in season

NFTs are Digital creations that provide certain benefits for their creators, like copyrights, transparency, and better revenue. Some of these artworks are being sold for hundreds of thousands —and even millions. Read more about it in our guide to NFTs.

The NFT craze reached the mainstream due to these millionaire purchases, calling the attention of artists, musicians, and other celebrities who now see it as an opportunity to promote their work. Even former NSA consultant Edward Snowden auctioned an NFT for US$5.4 million.

Lushsux said NFTs are an “excuse to spend more time building things in the digital world,” although he doesn’t believe the market will be sustainable in a few months.

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Australia Blockchain Cryptocurrencies Melbourne Trading

Blockchain Australia Solutions To Expand Crypto-trading By Partnering With FinTech Startup Mudrex

Blockchain Australia Solutions, a leading agency in blockchain application in Melbourne, recently announced its partnership with Mudrex — a trading strategy builder in an attempt to expand cryptocurrency trading to a larger audience.

Automated Trading System

According to a press release, Mudrex will implement automated trading programs for people with less knowledge on the topic. The plan is to bring more people to crypto-trading is by allowing experienced traders to build their trading algorithms and adding them into Mudrex Invest. Likewise, traders can test their algorithms based on historical data, then integrate them into crypto exchanges.

This way, people will only need to pay a monthly subscription for a strategy already developed. Traders can exchange directly without having to expend money through an API key-based integration with Bitmex and Binance.

“There are millions of traders who are trading manually just because, for individual traders or small prop shops it is super difficult to build the whole automated trading infrastructure as it requires coding skills in multiple programming languages, a good understanding of databases and building scalable systems as it is computational heavy. This itself can cost an individual trader or prop shops up to $100,000 and 6 months of efforts to build the system from scratch.”

Stated Rohit Goyal, CEO of Mudrex.

Blockchain Australia Solution has developed its blockchain services and covering several aspects in the fintech area, like smart contracts, automated billing systems, and blockchain POC (proof of concept) systems.

Now the Melbourne-based blockchain agency aims to bring a broader audience to the crypto-trading space by simplifying many of the aspects seen as complex for non-programmers.

Using cryptocurrencies has been requiring too much knowledge about the coding that goes behind it, making it unavailable for the common masses who are not programmers. Moreover, building a reliable infrastructure for trading has also been extremely expensive and time-consuming, which cannot be afforded by everybody. 

Stated the company in a press release.

Both companies expect greater growth with this new alliance. Mudrex has several partners in the fintech area — and has more than 5000 investors who have traded over $200 Million.

This is the main motivation for Blockchain Australia Solutions is partnering with this trading platform, Mudrex. With its various partners in other fintech and software firms, the company will bring a unique value to the trading platform, which will only help both of them to grow further.