Companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) could be able to trade tokenized bonds, equities, funds, or carbon credits after a successful proof-of-concept trial led by the digital asset investment platform Zerocap. On Monday, Melbourne-based digital asset investment platform Zerocap told Cointelegraph it had successfully used Synfini to bridge over its custody infrastructure onto the platform as part of a trial program, allowing for the trading and clearing of Ethereum-based tokenized assets. The trial is part of ASX’s distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based settlement project Synfini which was launched in November. The platform offers clients access to ASX’s DLT infrastructure, data …

The chief of Australia’s financial services regulator Joe Longo has raised the alarm over the sheer amount of people that invested in “unregulated, volatile” crypto assets during the pandemic. Longo, chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) made the comments in an Aug. 11 media release for its research conducted in November 2021, which looked into investment behavior following the onset of t COVID-19 pandemic, stating: "We are concerned about the number of people surveyed who reported investing in unregulated, volatile crypto-asset products” The survey found that crypto was the second most common investment product, with 44% of …

The Reserve Bank of Australia weighs in the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) race to explore use cases for a CBDC in the country. It will collaborate with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) on a respective research project. As stated in an announcement from Aug. 9, the joint project of the Reserve Bank and DFCRC will focus on “innovative use cases and business models” that could be supported by the issuance of a CBDC. The technological, legal and regulatory considerations will also be assessed in the project’s course. The pilot will last about a year and take the …

The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has shown its support for the “crypto rule book” idea and called for regulating exchanges instead of crypto assets. In May, the Australian Law Reform Council (ALRC) proposed to tackle crypto regulation through a rule book-style framework that sets out a series of gradually updated compliance principles for local crypto firms to adhere to. The comments came via a submission to the Treasury by FPA’s head of policy, strategy and innovation, Ben Marshan, who also argued that the regulation of crypto exchanges should fall under the current financial services regime and not under …

In a small coastal town just north of Brisbane, Queensland, 20 members of the Coolum Surf Club have been taking part in an initial trial of the Erth Point System, a crypto rewards platform from the Australian company Rewards4Earth. Doug Flockhart, former CEO of Clubs Queensland, the body for community clubs in the state, spoke to Cointelegraph about how his goal is to integrate the system through over 1,000 community clubs across Australia. Flockhart said the top professional rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL), “are very keen” on the idea and for Flockhart, it “confirms the capacity of …

ANZ’s stablecoin A$DC has been used to buy Australian tokenized carbon credits, marking another critical test of the asset’s use cases in the local economy. In March, the “Big Four” bank became the first major Australian financial institution to mint its own stablecoin after overseeing a pilot transaction worth $20.76 million, or 30 million Australian dollars (AUD), between Victor Smorgon Group and digital asset manager Zerocap. ANZ’s stablecoin is fully collateralized by AUD held in the bank’s managed reserved account. So far, A$DC transactions have primarily been conducted over the Ethereum blockchain. According to a Monday report from the Australian …

Chainalysis head of international policy Caroline Malcolm expects Australia’s new rules governing crypto advertising, promotion and consumer safeguards to follow a similar path to the United Kingdom when they come into place within the next year: “I think we’re more likely to see something along the lines of the UK model which is really focusing on a crackdown on misleading advertising or advertising which doesn't present the risks alongside the opportunities.” During the Chainalysis Links event in Sydney on Tuesday, Malcolm told Cointelegraph that this meant treating crypto products and services in a similar way to financial products and services …

Thailand-based metaverse startup Translucia Global Innovation has partnered with the Australian software development firm Two Bulls and set aside an initial budget of $100 million to build a Metaverse Research and Development Center (MRDC) in Melbourne. Translucia is a subsidiary of art and entertainment company T&B Media Global, which in October 2021, launched its Translucia Metaverse project, with a first-stage investment of $283 million for the virtual world. Now, T&B are partnering with Two Bulls to build the MRDC to bring the project to life with a slated soft launch for November this year. Two Bulls Founder and CEO James …

Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has become the first crypto company in the country to gain a financial services license. The license was issued by the country’s financial regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), to BTC Markets’ sister company BTCM Payments. We have an exciting announcement to make: BTC Markets is the first Australian crypto exchange to successfully go through the full AFSL application process via our sister company, BTCM Payments! ✅AFSL attained ✅ISO Certified ✅SOC 2 on the way!#crypto #bitcoin #finance — BTC Markets (@BTCMarkets) June 21, 2022 An Australian Financial Services (AFS) license allows the holder …

As the struggle for regulatory clarity down under rages on, Binance Australia’s CEO Leigh Travers thinks that such a framework will prove the crypto industry “holds itself to a higher standard” than many believe. Travers spoke with Cointelegraph on Tuesday about the current state of local crypto regulatory efforts and how the opportunities available in the industry are restricted by the lack of clarity. That lack of clarity was cited as the reason why the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has indefinitely postponed a pilot program for its crypto trading services last month. Although there are no rules on the …

Australian crypto exchange Swyftx wants to eventually offer seamless trading between traditional and crypto-asset classes, with its first step being the completion of its $1.5 billion merger deal with online investing platform Superhero. The deal to combine the two was revealed on June 8, with the merged entity set to become the first in Australia to offer both decentralized and traditional finance. We're teaming up with equities trading platform & fellow Aussie fintech @superheroaus, to give you the opportunity to invest in digital and traditional assets - all in one place! Official announcement here https://t.co/ygmeaS3wuq pic.twitter.com/Ivhsa2lybI — Swyftx (@SwyftxAU) June …

A further two cryptocurrency-backed exchange-traded funds (ETF) have launched on the Cboe Australia exchange on Monday, bringing the total amount of crypto ETFs available to Australian traders to six. The Canada-based 3iQ Digital Asset Management launched two spot ETFs, the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin (BTC) Feeder ETF and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether (ETH) Feeder ETF. Both of the Australian funds feed from the firm’s Canadian ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF, and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether ETF. The underlying assets of the Canadian ETFs are holdings of BTC and ETH held in cold storage …