The founder of what reportedly claims to be Australia’s first online mattress retailer OzMattress and cryptocurrency fund manager Stefanos Papanastasiou is about to be brought to court by his clients over the loss of over AUD$20 million ($14.2 million). Daily Australian newspaper The Age reported about the controversy on March 19. Per the report, Papanastasiou told his clients in 2017 that he had spent half a million Australian dollars ($355,000) to develop an algorithm that delivers substantial returns through the trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)-based tokens. According to the claim filed by property developer Savvas Alexiadis, one of …

Australia has unveiled a national blockchain strategy and roadmap, with a boost of AU$100,000 (~$71,200) in further funding from the federal government. The news was announced in a joint media release from two Australian ministries on March 18. Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham have jointly stated that the new policy roadmap aims to make Australia’s nascent blockchain industry into a global leader. The roadmap will encompass the development of blockchain “regulation, skills and capacity building, innovation, investment, and international competitiveness and collaboration.” According to the media release, previous …

The Australian anti-money laundering watchdog has suspended the registrations of two cryptocurrency exchanges in connection with a drug trafficking case, the agency announced in a press release on Friday, March 8. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) — a government financial intelligence agency that aims to prevent money laundering, tax evasion, welfare fraud and terrorism — suspended the two crypto exchanges’ operations because of their association with a suspect in an alleged organized crime syndicate. According to the joint press release from AUSTRAC and the Australian Federal Police, a 27-year-old man has been arrested on several drug trafficking-related …

Eight months after its launch, Huobi’s Australian subsidiary is to be subsumed under the Huobi Global canopy, according to an official tweet published on Feb. 24. In a Facebook post published today, Feb. 25, Huobi Australia cited the crypto market slump and fresh redundancies as the reason for the development. As previously reported, Singapore-headquartered Huobi Global launched its Australian platform in July 2018, saying at the time that “the move to Australia is a natural fit.” According to Huobi Australia’s announcements, the subsumption under Huobi Global will take effect as of tomorrow, Feb. 26: “Please be informed that due to …

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) is trialing a blockchain prototype for the automation of funds transfer instructions, business tech news site ZDNet reported on Feb. 24. Austrac — a government financial intelligence agency — is reportedly partnering with the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne to trial the use of blockchain and smart contract technology to help multiple actors automate their international fund transfer instructions (IFTIs) reporting to Austrac. Reporting entities include banks, remitters and casinos, according to ZDNet. Work on the blockchain proof-of-concept (PoC) for IFTI reporting automation began in December 2018, an unnamed spokesman told …

IBM has released its blockchain main net out of its data center located in Melbourne, Australia. This will purportedly allow their customers to run their applications on the company's cloud, according to an article published on news outlet ZDNet on Feb 11. The IBM platform was built on Hyperledger Fabric. Hyperledger is a project that aims to improve cross-industry blockchain technologies that is hosted by the Linux Foundation. A Sydney-based IBM data center is reportedly set to open at the end of March, joining the other centers in Tokyo, London, Dallas, São Paulo, and Toronto. The head of blockchain for …

The Federal Court of Australia has imposed a travel ban and frozen the funds of John Bigatton, a promoter of reported $2.6 billion Ponzi scheme Bitconnect, daily newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald reports on Jan. 5. Bigatton is reportedly listed as a director and shareholder of BitConnect International Plc and the only representative of Bitconnect Australia. Bigatton’s wife, Madeline Bigatton, is reportedly the sole director and shareholder of JB’s Investment Management, a company whose assets have been frozen, that is believed to be linked to Mr. Bigatton. According to the aforementioned article, Mrs. Bigatton went missing in March and has …

Australia’s National Transport Insurance (NTI) has announced it will trial a blockchain system to improve supply chain integrity for beef exports abroad. The trial was reported by local transport industry magazine Fully Loaded ATN on Dec. 10. NTI will reportedly be partnering with BeefLedger, an Australian “integrated provenance, blockchain security and payments platform,” which combines blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) technology to bolster product credentials across the supply chain. NTI and Beefledger’s pilot will use the system to track the provenance and production of Australian beef exports to Shanghai, from their rearing on South Australia’s Limestone Coast to a …

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published a warning Nov. 14 about scammers demanding tax payments through Bitcoin ATMs. The post notes that the number of scammers who request payment through BTC has now exceeded those who ask for iTunes giftcards. Kath Anderson, the Assistant Commissioner at the ATO, said this year that the number of scammers pretending to be associated with the ATO in order to request fraudulent taxation payments had increased, asking “Australians to be on high alert for tax scams.” Back in the spring, the tax regulator had previously warned citizens that scammers claiming fake tax debt …

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and government-run digital innovation center Data61 have released the results of their trial for a blockchain-powered “smart money” system for Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The development was reported by local financial and business news platform Business Insider Australia today, Nov. 13. Data61 is a digital innovation hub that forms part of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) — an Australian government corporate entity that undertakes scientific research to advance diverse local industries. The $93.5 billion market cap CBA is the country’s largest bank, as well as the 71st largest public …

The Texas State Securities Board has issued an emergency cease and desist order to an Australia-based cloud mining company AWS Mining PTY LTD for selling unregistered securities, according to an official notice filed Nov. 6. Per the document, AWS Mining along with its multiple agents and Chief Marketing Officer Josiah Kostek have violated the Texas Securities Act by luring the state’s residents in purchasing AWS’ unregistered cloud mining power contracts and promising a “200 percent passive return on every investment.” The company’s website also reportedly offers investors to join a multi-level marketing matrix for $20, after which they could earn …

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) assistant governor Michelle Bullock said that the bank has not been convinced of the need to create a digital Australian dollar, local business and finance news outlet The Australian Financial Review reported Oct. 24. Speaking at the Sibos 2018 banking and financial conference in Sydney, Bullock reportedly said that she is “interested to consider what frictions these technologies are designed to address [but] in many cases I just don't see what the point is." Among “touted” benefits digital currency could provide to central banks, Bullock cited the possibility to technically leapfrog the monetary policy …