More than a quarter of Australian crypto users surveyed in October plan to use digital assets as a part of their Christmas presents this holiday season. The survey by crypto wallet and services provider Crypto.com polled 2,020 Australians aged 18-59. Of those that had used crypto over the past 12 months, 26% responded that they would consider giving some away for Christmas or buying crypto-related gifts. More than half, or 53% of those planning to buy crypto gifts, said they would consider purchasing crypto assets, like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) for their loved ones this Christmas. The survey also …

Australia’s largest digital assets exchange, BTC Markets, has announced it will be adding two new senior additions to its Advisory Board, David Raper and Garry Duursma. BTC Markets has 325 thousand Australian clients, who have traded over AU$17.1 billion on the platform. BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler told Cointelegraph that the appointment of the two new execs would help the platform achieve its vision of market expansion. “We have been looking for some time for people to join at that senior advisory level,” she told Cointelegraph, adding that the two appointments are “in lockstep and part of a broader plan …

Australian banks have been dressing up anti-competitive behavior as regulatory compliance when de-banking crypto customers, Senator Andrew Bragg said. “I believe many banks have been dressing up de-banking as a regulatory necessity. In fact it is often anti-competitive behavior and far more sinister and threatening than it appears on the surface,” the Liberal Senator for New South Wales said in a prepared address to the Tech Council of Australia tod. Denial of banking, or debanking, is when a financial institution chooses to no longer offer banking services to a customer. No reason needs to be given, and banks have the …

Australian fund management company BetaShares’ new crypto company ETF smashed Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) records within the first 15 minutes of listing. The Capital Appreciation Portfolio Diversification (CRYP) fund enables investors to gain exposure to 50 pure-play listed crypto companies from around the world such as exchanges, mining companies and equipment firms. Some of the top companies on CRYP include Galaxy Digital (12.0%), Marathon Digital (11.3%), Coinbase Global (10.7%), Silvergate Capital (10.2%) and Microstrategy (9.4%). Investors blasted through the existing ETF record of $5.8M (A$8M) within minutes and soared to a total of almost $31.3M (A$42.5M) by the end of …

One of the ANZ bank’s senior executives has told a Blockchain Australia forum that the crypto sector has grown too big to be ignored by traditional finance. The comments came a day after rival Commonwealth Bank announced that it would roll out crypto trading services for 10 digital assets via its Commbank app. The “State of Play” forum was held by Blockchain Australia on Nov. 4 and featured representatives from organizations including Mastercard, ANZ and NAB offering their take on the crypto sector in the wake of CBA’s play. Today we hosted the 'State of Play' with over 1200 registrations …

Blockchain Global (BGL), the parent company of the now-defunct Australian crypto exchange ACX, has collapsed with outstanding debts of $15 million. On Sept. 13, The Victoria Supreme Court placed a freeze order on 117.33 Bitcoin (BTC) —worth around $7.1 million — held by two companies behind the exchange, BGL and ACX Tech. Three days later the companies were ordered to disclose the full scope of assets held locally and abroad but failed to meet the Sept. 30 deadline. The Australian Financial Review reported that BGL has since entered voluntary administration, with a figure of $15 million (AUD $21 million) owed …

Blake Cassidy, CEO of Australian micro-investment app Bamboo, has claimed that the Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) bias against listing crypto companies is causing an Aussie brain drain leading firms to seek out a US listing. Cassidy’s comments come in the same week the company announced a $3 million ($4M AUD) Series A investment round including participation from Australia’s largest cryptocurrency hedge fund, Orthogonal Trading, Mountain Ash Investment Management, and VP Capital. Bamboo is a micro-investing app that allows users to buy small amounts of digital currencies such as BTC and ETH by rounding up to the next dollar on each …

Leading blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis is opening its first Australian office in Canberra, coinciding with the news it has partnered with the Commonwealth Bank on its plans to offer crypto trading to 6.5 million app users. Chainalysis, which was valued at US$4.2 billion at its Series E funding round in June, is a blockchain data research platform founded by Jonathan Levin and Michael Gronager in 2014. According to the company’s 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency report, Southern Asia and Oceania are the fourth-largest crypto market in the world, accounting for $572.5 billion or 14% of all cryptocurrency value transacted between July …

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is set to launch crypto trading services for the 6.5 million users of its CommBank app. The CBA will become the first bank in Australia to support crypto, and Blockchain Australia says it is “inevitable” that the other ‘big four’ banks including National Australia Bank (NAB), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Westpac will soon follow suit. According to a Nov. 3 announcement, the CBA has partnered with the Gemini crypto exchange and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis to launch its crypto services. The bank will launch a pilot for a limited number …

Australian Senator for New South Wales Andrew Bragg has asserted that robust regulations would “bring credibility and validity” to the country’s emerging digital asset sector. Speaking to local publication Finder on November 2, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre, commented that the country’s crypto sector has shown a willingness to embrace greater regulatory oversight in a bid to attain mainstream legitimacy. “To my surprise, I’ve never seen an industry so keen for regulation,” said Senator Bragg. “Almost everyone I’ve spoken to in this industry understood that regulation would bring credibility and validity …

The AFR’s list contains 87 of Australia’s richest entrepreneurs aged 40 and under, with each boasting a net worth greater than AUD 36 million ($26.9 million). The list is topped by Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of popular graphic design software providers Canva. The married couple has an estimated net worth of AUD 16.5 ($12.3) billion between them. Seven crypto luminaires have debuted on the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) “Young Rich” list of 2021, including the minds behind some of the leading protocols in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) sectors. …

The issuer of a controversial cryptocurrency that can only be sold in batches of $125 daily on a single exchange is facing pushback from an Australian law firm. Queensland-based law firm Salerno Law plans to file a lawsuit accusing BPS Financial Limited — the company behind the QOIN token — of engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct, pyramid selling of financial products, and failing to comply with financial services regulations. The lawsuit will seek $100 million in damages. Salerno Law, which specialises in crypto disputes, started collecting expressions of interest from investors and merchants who had incurred losses as a …