A new survey shared with Cointelegraph has found that the proportion of Australian women who own crypto assets has doubled in the last year. The 2021 Independent Reserve’s Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) of 2000 Australians found that the number of women who currently or have previously invested in crypto rose from 10.3% in 2020 to 20% in 2021. The percentage of female Bitcoin owners also rose from 8.3% to 14.8% according to the survey. Independent Reserve is an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2013, it has more than 200,000 users. Karen Cohen, Deputy Chair for the Board of Blockchain …

When Tony Richards, the Head of Payments Policy at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), read the recent survey results from Finder’s Crypto Report saying that almost one in five Australians owned crypto, he didn't believe it for a second. However, the results had already been widely published around the country, gracing headlines for weeks. They even made their way into the recent Senate Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Center’s final report in October. Welcome to the statistically dubious world of cryptocurrency surveys — an easy way for companies to get publicity by hawking survey results, but …

On Oct. 19, 2021, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) launched on the New York Stock Exchange. On its first day, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) saw an influx of close to $1 billion in natural volume and, within 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) itself would reach a new all-time high for its price in U.S. dollars. This comes a week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allowed the ETF’s application to expire, which effectively gave the okay for the product to move ahead. This marks a significant step for the United States, but has also sent ripples into other markets …

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) says it can’t rely on crypto investors to keep track of their crypto transactions and profits — even though most investors try their best. Speaking at the 14th International ATAX Conference on Tax Administration conference on Nov. 23, ATO commissioner Chris Jordan stressed that many new crypto investors may not entirely understand their tax reporting obligations: “In a sector that is growing rapidly with new investors, we can’t rely on taxpayers knowing they need to keep records of their investment income and capital gains and disclose it on their tax returns.” “Our main concern is …

Australian superannuation fund Rest Super is set to become the first retirement fund in the country to invest in cryptocurrencies. The fund has more than $46.8 billion worth of assets under management (AUM) and around 1.8 million members. Superannuation is the equivalent of a 401k or Individual Retirement Account in the U.S. and is compulsory for all employees. Until now the $2.4 trillion sector has been extremely cautious about cryptocurrency. During Rest Super’s annual general meeting on Nov. 23, the firm’s chief investment officer Andrew Lill told members that the company sees digital assets as an “important part” of its …

Joe Longo, chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, spoke at the Australian Financial Review Super and Wealth Summit on Nov 22 at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney. The rise of crypto, he said, has been “nothing short of phenomenal, and impossible to ignore.” As a corporate and markets regulator, Longo admitted to a certain fascination with decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs. He said that they present certain challenges for national regulators like ASIC: “To paraphrase a concept familiar to corporate lawyers, to whom does ASIC turn to ascertain the directing mind and will of a DAO? …

Matt Comyn, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), said that the bank is more concerned about the risks of missing out on crypto than those associated with its adoption. The CBA is set to become the first of the “big four” banks in Australia to offer crypto-based services, after the company announced on Nov. 3 that it will support the trading of 10 digital assets directly via its banking app. Speaking with Bloomberg TV on Friday, Nov. 19, Comyn was questioned on the CBA’s take on the crypto sector, with the CEO noting that: “We see risks …

With crypto regulation reportedly set to ramp up in Australia over the next 12 months, Kraken Australia’s Managing Director Jonathon Miller thinks that a strict crypto regime could stifle local competition. The Senate Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Center, led by crypto-friendly Senator Andrew Bragg tabled 12 extensive recommendations for regulation of the digital asset and Fintech industry last month. The proposals included a new licensing regime for crypto exchanges, new laws to govern decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and an overhaul of capital gains tax in decentralized finance (DeFi) to name a few. In an exclusive interview …

Senator Jane Hume has stated that decentralized finance (DeFi) “presents huge opportunities” for Australia to cement its place as a “front-runner for innovation and economic progress.” Senator Hume spoke at the Australian Financial Review Super & Wealth Summit in Sydney on Monday, Nov. 22. She is the Minister for Women's Economic Security of Australia, representing the Liberal Party and the state of Victoria. The conference was primarily about super and government retirement funds — both notoriously slow and steady investments. The comments on DeFi are more notable in this regard. Senator Hume called for industry and government to acknowledge that …

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has warned Aussie investors about speculating on digital assets as it casts doubt over the entire crypto sector. During a Nov. 18 address to the Australian Corporate Treasury Association, the RBA’s head of payments policy Tony Richards offered an overview on distributed ledger tech, crypto assets, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In his speech, Richards raised questions over crypto’s validity and growth in 2021 as he took aim at the amount of capital invested into memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB): “The recent boom in this area is perhaps …

An Australian software developer has created an online repository of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called the “The NFT Bay”. The repository includes JPEG versions of the NFTS, not the blockchain-secured token itself. Adelaide resident Geoffrey Huntley launched The NFT Bay 10 hours ago containing a 17.96 terabyte archive of non-fungible token image copies that has since attracted a total of 1.2 million visits. The site has the same layout and logo as torrent website The Pirate Bay, where users can download pirated films, video games, music, and other media. However, instead of downloading blockbuster movies, users can download JPEG copies of …

Australian baseball club Perth Heat has announced a partnership with Bitcoin payment processor OpenNode to accept and make payments in Bitcoin (BTC). The partnership allows Perth Heat to pay professional players and staff in Bitcoin. According to the announcement, the professional sports club will send and receive payments in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network. In addition, the partnership with OpenNode allows the Perth Heat organization to accept Bitcoin payments for sponsorships, merchandise and other revenue streams. Taking things a step further, Perth Heat has also rebranded itself to be called “the Bitcoin baseball team.” The club has also listed Bitcoin-branded …