Australian ‘Big 4’ bank begins trial for cryptocurrency payment blocks

May 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Australia

One of Australia’s Big Four banks announced efforts to combat crypto fraud activities aimed at reducing losses from scams.

Westpac, one of Australia’s ’Big Four’ banks, is launching its first trial of scam protection measures designed to combat fraudulent activities related to cryptocurrencies.

The protection measures aim to mitigate losses from scams and reduce potential risks.

According to the announcement, investment scams account for approximately 50% of all customer losses linked to scams, while around one-third of all scams involve direct transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges, making them extremely difficult to trace.

The Westpac ban comes on the same day Binance customers were told they could no longer use PayID to transfer Australian dollars to their accounts. Binance said a “third-party provider” had placed restrictions on the exchange, affecting bank transfer withdrawals for now.

According to Scott Collary — Westpac’s group executive of customer services and technology — while digital exchanges have a legitimate role in the financial ecosystem, the rise of digital currency has increased scammers utilizing overseas exchanges.

Westpac plans to gradually introduce a phased trial of the new crypto payment protection blocks in late May. This trial is introduced alongside other recent initiatives like Westpac Verify. This feature notifies customers of potential account name mismatches when making payments to a new bank-state-branch and account number, or sending money to an account that Westpac has no prior transaction history.

Consumer advocacy group Choice reports Australians have suffered losses exceeding $129 million due to cryptocurrency scams. In 2021 alone, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission received over 12,000 reports related to such scams.

Crypto investment scams exhibit warning signs such as deceptive social media ads, fraudulent websites, forged documents and the use of spoofing software.

Additionally, scammers may possess undisclosed personal information or attempt to manipulate targets into taking action during phone conversations.

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Australia marks first FX transaction using a CBDC as eAUD pilot continues

May 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Australia

The Australian digital dollar was used in a trade for a U.S. dollar stablecoin using an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain.

Australia has successfully made its first foreign exchange transaction using eAUD as part of a live pilot for the country’s potential central bank digital currency (CBDC).

It comes amid a rising interest from countries around the world to learn about or launch central bank-issued digital currencies.

In a statement, blockchain infrastructure provider Canvas said on May 17 local time, crypto fund managers DigitalX and TAF Capital traded eAUD against the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC).

Canvas reported the transaction was settled instantly and touted it as a success over what it called the “slow, expensive and prone to errors” traditional FX and remittance networks.

The FX trade was part of a series of tests currently underway as the country explores possible use cases for a CBDC. The pilot program was launched by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in conjunction with the financial research institute the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC).

Canvas’ test explored use of eAUD in tokenized FX settlements, which could point towards the benefits of using the CBDC over fiat currencies and existing settlement platforms.

We’ll demonstrate the benefits of using CBDCs like eAUD in tokenized FX transactions using our privacy-focused Layer 2 Network and blockchain-based financial markets applications. Read more here https://t.co/RPjSF5B8s0
— CANVAS (@canvas_defi) March 6, 2023

The transaction was done on a decentralized app on Canvas’ “Connect” — an Ethereum layer 2 that uses StarkWare’s zero-knowledge (ZK) roll-up technology.

Canvas’ CEO David Lavecky called the trade “historic” and added the digital dollar could potentially address challenges in FX and remittance markets such as “improving transaction times, reducing fees and providing more open access.”

An April pilot test from Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) bank used the CBDC to trade carbon credits.

ANZ used eAUD to back its A$DC stablecoin to trade the credits on a public blockchain and reported the settlement happened “in near real-time.”

Other use cases being tested include offline payments, distribution, custody, tax automation, use in “trusted Web3 commerce” and even livestock auctions.

The pilot started on Mar. 31 and is set to finish on May 31. A report and assessment of the various use cases are set to be published on Jun. 30.

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Binance Australia suspends AUD fiat services, citing issues with third party

May 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

AUD

Australian dollar deposits and withdrawals have been impacted due to a decision made by its third-party provider, it said in an announcement.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance Australia has informed users it has suspended Australian dollar services as its local payment services provider has seemingly stopped support for the exchange.

On May 18, Binance Australia tweeted that AUD PayID deposits were suspended and bank transfer withdrawals will also be impacted "due to a decision made by our third-party payment service provider."

"We understand from our third party payment service provider that Bank Transfer withdrawals will also be impacted and we will advise users on timeline when this is confirmed," it added.

Fellow Binancians,

We regret to inform you that with immediate effect we are unable to facilitate PayID AUD deposits for Binance users due to a decision made by our third party payment service provider. We understand from our third party payment service provider that Bank…
— Binance Australia (@Binance_AUS) May 18, 2023

Binance said it is now working to find an alternative provider to continue offering AUD deposits and withdrawals to its users.

The ability to buy and sell crypto using credit or debit cards is still available, it added.

Binance just got de-banked in Australia

which country is next? pic.twitter.com/SiLBrj9pYu
— Liquidity Goblin (@liquiditygoblin) May 18, 2023

"Notably, you can still buy and sell crypto using credit or debit card and our Binance P2P marketplace will also continue to operate as usual. Rest assured that your funds are safe through the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), an insurance fund that offers protection to Binance users and their funds in the event of extreme situations," it added.

AUD withdrawals are seemingly still able to be undertaken for now. Cointelegraph's Australian staff wereable to withdraw AUD into an Australian bank account at the time of writing.

The suspension comes a month after the Australian securities regulator cancelled the financial services license of Binance Australia Derivatives after it reviewed Binance's local operations.

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Tencent-backed Everledger collapses amid lack of funding: Report

May 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Australia

Everledger was quietly placed into insolvency after it didn’t manage to materialize its planned funding round from an undisclosed investor.

The Australian blockchain company Everledger has reportedly entered insolvency proceedings after failing to raise new funding from an undisclosed investor.

Everledger, which uses blockchain to track the provenance of diamonds and other goods, failed to make its latest funding round happen, the AFR reported on May 8.

Subsequently, Everledger was quietly placed into voluntary administration as the firm could not pay its debts. All Everledger employees were given layoff notices on March 31, with Vincents Chartered Accountants being appointed as administrators on April 24. The first meeting of creditors was scheduled for May 8.

According to Everledger founder Leanne Kemp, the company’s management was forced to take this decision to protect the interests of shareholders.

“The second tranche of funding due to Everledger did not materialize, and subsequently, we understand that there are external reasons and pressures on this investor, which has meant Everledger was placed in a difficult and unexpected position,” Kemp said.

One of the critically important decisions was an immediate redundancy of employees and to hold the firm in control of administrators while its affairs were finalized, the founder added.

*Everledger founder Leanne Kemp. Source: The AFR*

Kemp went on to say that Everledger planned its latest investment around the last external funding round required before profitability. “I would not suggest Everledger was a ‘cash burning’ startup,” she stated, adding:

“Certainly, our use of capital and operational footprint was in total alignment with the board’s direction under a controlled growth plan. This is not a company that scaled too fast or took on venture capital and burnt it in 18 months.”

Everledger did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

The company’s insolvency proceedings come despite Everledger being backed by major investors, including the Australian government and the Chinese internet giant Tencent.

In 2019, Tencent led Everledger’s Series A round with a $20 million investment. According to the AFR, Everledger also secured $3.5 million from the United Kingdom Government’s Future Fund in 2021. Over the past eight years, Everledger has reportedly raised $51.7 million in external investment.

Founded in 2015, Everledger is one of the world’s major companies pioneering blockchain-based platforms for tracking supply chains. Some companies, including the Danish logistics firm Maersk and the United States technology company IBM, have terminated their blockchain supply chain tracking products, citing a lack of “global industry collaboration.”

Despite major industry closures, the concept of blockchain-based supply chain platforms is still thriving in some parts of the world. Hong Kong-based Global Shipping Business Network continues building blockchain-based supply chain products and is bullish on blockchain as a crucial logistics tool in the long term.

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Coinbase remains ‘100% committed’ to US market: Armstrong

May 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Australia

The Coinbase CEO has a lot of faith in Congress in making a “clear rule book” for crypto firms to follow. But the SEC? Not so much.

United States-founded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has no plans to move its operations out of the U.S., CEO Brian Armstrong told investors in an Q1 earnings call.

On May 5, Armstrong assured shareholders the firm is “100% committed” to the U.S. market over the long term despite regulatory uncertainty in the U.S.

“So let me be clear, we're 100% committed to the U.S. I founded this company in the United States because I saw that rule of law prevails here. That's really important, and I'm actually really optimistic on the U.S. getting this right.”

The “optimism” alluded to by Armstrong comes from his confidence in Congress soon passing a clear set of rules for crypto firms to follow:

“When I go visit DC, there is strong bipartisan support for Congress to come in and create new legislation that would create a clear rule book in the U.S. and I think it's really important for America to get this right.”

However, Armstrong’s comments weren’t entirely “optimistic.”

The chief executive is concerned about the unpredictable enforcement action of the Securities Exchange Commission, which comes in light of the firm being served with a Wells Notice by the securities regulator in late March:

“Despite our ongoing engagement with the commission, they have not been as clear about what their specific concerns are with Coinbase as we might like, and so I have to refrain from speculating too much.”

“It's especially difficult to predict the timeline of any potential SEC litigation that we might face,” Armstrong added.

The troubles led Coinbase to file an action in a U.S. federal court seeking to compel the SEC to answer a petition that has been pending since July.

Today, to provide greater transparency in our long-standing engagement with the SEC, we are sharing our response to the Wells notice we received last month. https://t.co/aquuWmxmRM
— Coinbase ️ (@coinbase) April 27, 2023

The back and forth comes as Coinbase launched Coinbase International Exchange (CIE) on May 2, which prompted many pundits to believe that Coinbase was looking for an escape route from the U.S.

The exchange is open to customers in 30 countries worldwide, including Singapore, Hong Kong, El Salvador, Philippines, Thailand and Bermuda — where CIE is now licensed from.

Today Coinbase launched Coinbase International Exchange @CoinbaseIntExch and will begin by offering BTC & ETH perpetual futures settled in USDC with up to 5x leverage to institutional clients in eligible jurisdictions outside of the U.S.https://t.co/OzhbgJlZ2K
— Coinbase ️ (@coinbase) May 2, 2023

Armstrong said the European Union is “in front” in terms of regulatory progress with its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation set to enter into effect in mid-2024 or early 2025:

“They've adopted comprehensive crypto legislation called MiCA, creates a single clear rule book for the entire region. It's pretty powerful.”

“I just got back from a trip from the U.K. and D.C. Both of those, both have draft bills in the works that are working on things like around stable coins and market structure Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, all are essentially following in this direction,” Armstrong added.

The CEO’s remarks come as Coinbase managed to increase its revenue 22% and slashed its net income loss over $475 million to $79 million in Q1.

Our Q1'23 financial results are in and our letter to shareholders can be found on the Investor Relations website at https://t.co/8ovHEtPRgf pic.twitter.com/4iWAPGZNMh
— Coinbase ️ (@coinbase) May 4, 2023

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Australia installs more Bitcoin ATMs than whole of Asia

April 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Asia

Asia, which includes major economies such as China, Japan, Singapore and India, hosts 355 crypto machines, representing 1% of the total crypto ATMs installed worldwide.

Australia, the country that hosts the third-largest network of Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs, surpassed the continent in Asia in terms of the total number of crypto ATMs installed.

Since the beginning of 2023, Australia delved into a crypto ATM installation spree — climbing up from the fifth spot to the third in January alone. Data from Coin ATM Radar confirms that the country has kept up the effort to install avenues for fiat-to-crypto conversions.

*Crypto ATM distribution by countries and continents. Source: Coin ATM Radar*

Over the last eight months, Australia consistently added Bitcoin ATMs unlike leading European nations and the United States which reported a reduction in ATM installations during that timeline.

Asia, which includes prominent economies such as China, Japan, Singapore and India, hosts 355 crypto machines, representing 1% of the total crypto ATMs installed worldwide. Upon months of positive inclusion, Australia recorded the presence of 364 crypto ATMs.

*Monthly crypto ATM installations in Australia. Source: Coin ATM Radar*

Contradicting Australia’s crypto ATM growth, the total crypto ATMs installed worldwide showed a consistent decline. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, in the first two months of 2023, the net cryptocurrency ATMs installed globally reduced by 412 machines.

Complementing the country’s massive increase in crypto ATMs, leaked internal documents from the Australian Treasury Department revealed the nearing of crypto legislation in the region.

As reported by Cointelegraph, the Australian government plans to release consultation papers in the second quarter of 2023. THe move seems plausible as the Treasury had officially released a token mapping consultation paper, which would form the basis of upcoming crypto regulations.

Consultation open! Today we released the token mapping consultation paper. This consultation is part of a multi step reform agenda to develop an appropriate regulatory setting for the #crypto sector. Read paper & submit views @ https://t.co/4W2msjhP9B @ASIC_Connect @AUSTRAC pic.twitter.com/OGHuZEGvDp
— Australian Treasury (@Treasury_AU) February 2, 2023

However, the final submissions to the cabinet will be reportedly made later in the year, which implies that the any decisions on crypto legislation will be pushed to 2024.

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Binance to Shut Down its Australian Derivatives Services

April 6, 2023 The Crypto Briefing

Binance Australia Derivatives license canceled by securities regulator

April 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Australia

In February, Binance Australia Derivatives abruptly closed certain derivatives positions and accounts, citing investor classification compliance.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has canceled the license of Binance Australia Derivatives after a targeted review of Binance’s operations in the country.

“ASIC has today canceled the Australian financial services license held by Oztures Trading Pty Ltd trading as Binance Australia Derivatives,” the securities regulator stated in the official announcement on April 6.

Following the license cancellation, Binance Australia Derivatives clients will not be able to increase derivatives positions or open new positions with the platform from April 14. The company will also require users to close any existing derivatives positions before April 21, as Binance is expected to close any remaining open positions on that day.

“The terms of the cancellation include a provision that the cancellation has no effect on the requirement for Binance to continue as a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority until the end of April 8, 2024,” the statement said.

The Australian securities regulator went on to say that it has been conducting a targeted review of Binance’s financial services business in Australia, including its classification of retail and wholesale clients. According to ASIC chair Joe Longo, the review was related to compliance with the classification of retail and wholesale clients. The official said:

“Retail clients trading in crypto derivatives are afforded important rights and consumer protections under financial services laws in Australia, including access to external dispute resolution through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.”

In the statement, ASIC mentioned that the global Binance exchange and its CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, are currently facing a lawsuit from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The regulator also noted that various Binance group entities had been subject to other regulatory warnings and action worldwide, referring to a series of warnings and investigations initiated by global regulators against Binance in 2021.

Following recent engagement with ASIC, Binance has chosen to pursue a “more focused approach” in Australia by closing down Binance Australia Derivatives, a spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph. The representative emphasized that spot trading on Binance will still be available for Australian residents, stating:

“Australians can continue to enjoy the use of our spot exchange product. There are a small number of remaining users on Binance Australia Derivatives, approximately 100, and we have reached out to notify them of the winding down process.”

The news comes after Binance Australia Derivatives sent abrupt notifications to its users in late February, saying it was starting to close certain derivatives positions and accounts. The firm cited investor classification compliance, reportedly claiming that it was restricting users that didn’t meet the requirements to be wholesale investors. Local regulators subsequently launched an investigation, aiming to conduct a “targeted review” of Binance’s local derivatives operations.

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Crypto ATM Numbers Drop by 13.91% Since December 2022, Over 3,600 Went Offline in March

April 2, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Hong Kong fund plans to raise $100 million for crypto investment

March 30, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Hong Kong fund plans to raise 0 million for crypto investment

Australia

The new Hong Kong-based equity fund will focus on the regional market and embrace Web3 startups.

As Hong Kong is again opening up to the crypto market, local investors are launching a $100 million fund to finance the digital industry. The new fund, ProDigital Future, will aim at early-stage Web3 companies oriented at the regional market.

According to a Bloomberg report from March 30, ProDigital Future has finished its half-year fundraising period with about $30 million in its pockets. However, it plans to raise $100 million by the end of 2023.

The fund is led by Ben Ng, a partner at Hong Kong-based equity firm SAIF Partners, and Curt Shi, a long-time tech investor from China. At this point, Sunwah Kingsway Capital Holdings and Golin International Group have already hopped in to support the fund.

So far, the fundraising process has been “relatively smooth,” as Mr.Shi told journalists, although the investors are cautious about putting their money into crypto projects. Reportedly, not only Hong Kong investors but some family offices from China, Australia and Singapore also participated in ProDigital Future.

The fund will “embrace Hong Kong and its policies” but also intends to be present in Australia and Singapore, “as well as in Europe and the U.S.”

ProDigital Future has already invested in six digital-asset projects with metaverse company GigaSpace and One Future Football, a digital football league from Australia, currently operating in stealth mode.

In October last year, the government of Hong Kong floated the idea of introducing its own bill to regulate crypto, and on Feb. 20, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission released a proposal for a regime for cryptocurrency exchanges, set to take effect in June.

The regime suggests a necessary licensing procedure, demanding from the potential market players to meet a number of prerequisites, including the safe custody of assets, Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering/counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

Australia

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