The Australian city of Coolangatta has got its first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM with integrated Lightning network capabilities. The new ATM has been installed at The Strand shopping center in Coolangatta and is now available for use by the public. A Bitcoin Lightning ATM works quite similarly to traditional Bitcoin ATMs but saves significant time because of the instant transaction capabilities of the layer-2 Lightning solution. It also allows for purchasing very small amounts of BTC, mostly in Satoshi (sats), the lowest denomination of Bitcoin, where one satoshi is equal to 0.00000001 BT. At the moment, cryptocurrency ATMs settle transactions on …

A 25-year-old crypto investor who traded nearly $2 billion (3 billion Australian dollars) worth of crypto in 2021 ran his crypto empire from the comfort of his parent’s home in Sydney, Australia, according to public records. The young gun in question, Darren Nguyen, has not spoken about the achievement of his small trading business PO Street Capital, though an article from The Australian on Jan. 2 has instead highlighted such via public filings. Registered at his parent's house in Guildford, Sydney, Nguyen’s crypto business took home 10.41 million AUD in after-tax profit in the fiscal year ended Jun. 30, 2021, …

El Salvador, the first country to legalize Bitcoin (BTC), has been pushed down yet another spot in total crypto ATM installations as Australia records 216 ATMs stepping into the year 2023. As part of El Salvador’s drive to establish Bitcoin as a legal tender, President Nayib Bukele had decided to install over 200 crypto ATMs across the country. While this move made El Salvador the third largest crypto ATM hub at the time after the United States and Canada in September 2021, Spain and Australia overtook the Central American country’s ATM count in 2022. On October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that …

Cryptocurrency-related Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have taken the two top spots for the worst-performing ETFs in Australia for the year, with the same story playing out in the United States. BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (CRYP) and Cosmos Global Digital Miners Access ETF (DIGA) have provided investors down under with respective negative returns of nearly 82% and 72% year to date (YTD) until Dec. 30. BetaShares launched its ETF on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Oct. 2021 mere weeks before most cryptocurrencies hit all-time highs that they’re yet to regain. CRYP provides exposure to publicly listed blockchain and crypto companies …

More and more people are discovering Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, which is good for the adoption of digital money on the blockchain. Interest in Bitcoin is also growing in Australia and companies are responding positively. For example, there are various ways to buy Bitcoin in Australia. Trading Bitcoin is more than just buying and selling. So, what is the best place to buy Bitcoin and what is the most secure way to store a Bitcoin investment? Discover in this article different ways to buy Bitcoin in Australia, how to trade Bitcoin and the ways to store cryptocurrencies. Various ways …

With more regulators eyeing the crypto space as the FTX debacle continues, the $1.5 billion merger of online investing platform Superhero with the Australian crypto exchange Swyftx was shelved. In an email to its customers, Superhero highlighted that it will not be proceeding with its merger with the crypto exchange. According to the company, this is because of heightened regulatory scrutiny within Australia and globally. They wrote: “As a result of the current environment, we have decided that the best thing for our Superhero customers is to unwind the merger and move forward as a separate, unrelated company.” The firm …

Financial product comparison website Finder.com is being sued by Australia’s financial services regulator for allegedly offering a cryptocurrency yield-bearing product without the required license. It’s the second local provider of a crypto yield product to be targeted by the regulator, following action against Block Earner in November The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) began court proceedings on Dec.15 local time against Finder.com’s subsidiary and locally registered digital currency exchange Finder Wallet. ASIC alleged the Finder Earn product was an unlicensed financial product and that theFinder Wallet breached product disclosure requirements and failed to comply with obligations pertaining to distributing …

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed that the government will release a consultation paper in early 2023 as part of its token mapping initiative. The crypto sector has received greater attention from Australian regulatory and enforcement agencies since the FTX implosion, with the government emphasizing the importance of providing greater consumer protection laws as soon as possible. In a Dec. 14 statement, Treasurer Chalmers noted that the Anthony Albanese-led government is “taking action to improve the regulation of crypto service providers and ensure additional safeguards for Australians.” As part of that process, Chalmers revealed the consultation paper will cover how …

Australian financial regulators are “working on options” for incorporating payment stablecoins into the regulatory framework for stored-value facilities. Such incorporation would be a part of broader reforms to the payments regulatory framework in the country. On Dec.8 the official site of the Reserve Bank of Australia published a report on stablecoins, assessing their recent developments, risks and regulatory prospects. Despite the high attention given to risks, in particular, the report is quite optimistic in acknowledging that “stablecoins have the potential to enhance the efficiency and functionality of a range of payment and other financial services.” According to the report, the …

A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program in Australia has received more than 140 use case proposals from the finance industry, but the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) warns that it could displace the Australian dollar and result in people avoiding commercial banks entirely. The RBA released a speech on Dec. 8 to be given by Assistant Governor Brad Jones at a central bank conference held from Dec. 8 to Dec. 9 local time, in which Jones speaks at length about what effect a CBDC could have on the Australian economy. Jones notes that the RBA has been surprised …

Joseph Longo, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is calling for a regulatory loophole to be closed that allowed FTX to acquire an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) in the country without the full suite of checks. According to a Dec. 5 report from the Australian Financial Review, Longo made the comments while speaking at a joint parliament committee on corporations and financial services on Monday local time. A major topic the committee dug into was of course the recent FTX and Alameda Research meltdown led by the now-troubled founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Longo defended his regulatory …

Up to $40 billion a year (AU$60 billion), could be added to Australia's national GDP with the right regulatory framework and could lead to enormous cost savings for consumers and businesses according to a new report. The Nov. 29 Digital assets in Australia report was commissioned by the Tech Council of Australia (TCA), one of the country's technology industry advocacy groups, and written by technology consulting firm Accenture, which outlined a number of potential benefits the growth of the digital assets sector in Australia could deliver, stating: “Digital assets (DA) have the potential to transform our lives offering significant time …