Tag: Crypto Adoption

Categories
Crypto News Institutions

PayPal To Allow Users Withdraw Crypto From Account

PayPal will soon allow users to withdraw their crypto funds, according to PayPal’s blockchain executive.

Speaking at Consensus 2021, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, VP at PayPal, said that a withdrawal function is on the way and will allow users to send their crypto to third-party wallets.

The withdrawal function comes after PayPal registered a tremendous interest in its crypto custodial service. “We want to make it as open as possible, and we want to give choice to our consumers,” he said.

PayPal’s Q1 results even surpassed the company’s expectations with over 6 billion in revenues in the first quarter of 2021 —a 31% record spot. Dan Schulman, the CEO, said the results were mainly thanks to their decision to integrate cryptocurrencies into Paypal.

Bitcoin for Paypal in Australia

Currently, PayPal does not support Bitcoin as a payment option for Australia. This services is currently only available in the USA (except Hawaii) for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Stay tuned, we will let you know once they enable this feature for us Aussies.

PayPal’s Own Stablecoin

After PayPal’s vice president Jonathan Auerbach reunited with central bankers worldwide, rumours circulated about a possible stablecoin issued by the payment giant. However, da Ponte said it is “too early to think about that.”

Sometimes we position the debate as CBDCs versus stablecoins, but it’s a bit of a fake debate. There is no trade-off. We think they will co-exist.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, VP at PayPal

Speaking about stablecoins and CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currency) —and whether one will overtake the other by global usage— da Ponte stated there is no debate against the two.

PayPal as the Gateway for CBDCs

While the payment processor is not currently working on its own stablecoin, da Ponte said financial institutions like PayPal can serve as a bridge for the distribution of CBDCs when the time comes.

To reinforce his view, he referred to how Americans had to go to a bank to cash their stimulus checks, in the midst of a pandemic. “I think we can do better than that” he added.

Categories
Australia

Australian Aquaculture Firm Raises AU$5 million in IPO Using Cryptocurrency

OpenSea Closes $23 Million Series A to Scale its NFT Marketplace

West Coast Aquaculture (WCA), a company based in Australia, recently announced the completion of its initial public offering (IPO), which was mostly conducted using digital currency. The development today confirmed yet another use case for cryptocurrencies. In addition to serving as a means of payment and a store of value, digital currencies can be adopted to source funding from the public, especially from investors outside the country.

WCA Completes IPO Using Tether (USDT)

Per the announcement, the aquaculture company was assisted by STAX, a fintech company, to successfully conduct the funding. West Coast Aquaculture reportedly raised a total of AU$5 million (i.e., USD 3.65 million) through the IPO. The majority of the funding (about 89 percent) was conducted using the US dollar-backed stablecoin, Tether (USDT). So, the company basically raised about AU$4.4 million (USD 3.2 million) using cryptocurrency.

The remaining funds were conducted using Australian dollars, according to the report. To be precise, West Coast Aquaculture deals in fisheries, and it has already established a presence in the Asia Pacific. Through the funding, the company intends to expand its business operations as well as improving its supply chain. Interestingly, the development reportedly makes WCA the first Australian company to source funding using a digital currency.

“We are proud to be part of this historic moment in Australian investment history. […] We hope this bold initiative helps open the door to more global investment for local companies,” the CEO and founder of WCA, Neo Ching Hoe, commented.

Crypto Adoption in Australian Capital Market

In accordance with the words of Kenney Lee, the CEO of STAX, the successfully conducted crypto IPO can “pave the way for the future of capital markets in Australia.” STAX claimed it’s the first company that supports capital raising in both the Australian dollar and digital currencies. “We are allowing access to a market which has been hard for overseas investors to get into, and it will only benefit Australian businesses longer term,” the CEO added. 

Categories
Australia

Crypto Adoption Likely to Increase in Australia as NAB Closes Branches

Update 20/11/2020: NAB reported on Twitter that the branches were only shut down for a few hours on 18th Nov and the “advice from State and Federal police is that the physical threat is not credible and has been deemed a hoax”.

Millions of residents in Australia have been locked out from cashing their funds, as one of the biggest banks in the country, National Australia Bank (NAB), has reportedly closed all branches. There are chances that the development today can cause some customers to consider cryptocurrencies as another option for monetary transactions. A similar case was witnessed in Venezuela, where banks closed, causing the residents to increasingly adopt cryptos.

NAB Shuts Down Branches for Security Reasons

According to the bank’s notice on Wednesday, it had to temporarily close the branches due to a physical security threat against them. Hence, the decision to halt the banking operations comes as NAB considers its customers’ security as a top priority. While citing the Queensland Police, recent reports claimed that NAB actually received bomb threats across its branches in the country.

As the police have been informed and investigations are ongoing, the bank promised to keep the customers updated about the situation and, perhaps, the safety of their funds. At the moment, however, all the funds remain locked, given that the commercial offices are currently closed. Likewise, the ATMs located within branches are offline.

Does the NAB Situation Promote Crypto?

The NAB is reportedly one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia, with about 859 branches and 9 million customers. There are possibilities that some of the affected customers might eventually adopt cryptos, like Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT) as another alternative to process payments or send funds abroad. For instance, the Venezuelan government closed down banks in the country during the severe times of the coronavirus pandemic in March. 

Peer-to-peer exchanges (P2P) like Localbitcoins witnessed a sudden spike in trading between Bitcoin and the country’s fiat currency. Transactions with digital currencies can be done peer-to-peer (P2P), which enables users to avoid certain banking fees. More so, international payments with crypto are cheaper compared to traditional methods.