In recent weeks, crypto token prices have taken a beating. The two major coins, Bitcoin and Ethereum, are off ~5% in the last month and alt coins in many cases are off by 25% or more (e.g ImmutableX is down 17% in the last 30 days, Polygon is off by more than 25%, and Optimism… Read more »
The first foreign exchange (FX) transaction using the the Reserve Bank of Australia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been a success. ASX-listed DigitalX (ASX:DCC) and fund manager TAF Capital were involved in the trade of eAUD to USDC stable coin on May 17, with blockchain fintech Canvas central to the test FX transactions. The trade… Read more »
Early stage investment company Antler Australia recently backed a new cohort of startups as part of its ongoing program to build great local tech companies. Startup Daily is sharing the details of each venture in the “Antler Investor Memos” series, which is designed to give you a quick, sharp understanding of the startups and people… Read more »
Ignore the sceptics and naysayers. The ASX’s attempt to replace its ageing Clearing House Electronic Sub-Register System – better known as CHESS – was the right move, despite ending up where it did. ASX spent vast sums of money attempting to replace CHESS with a complex mix of technologies, including a version of blockchain called… Read more »
Blockchain Australia’s new CEO, Laura Mercurio, has left the member organisation after just three months after taking on the role An experienced investment banker whose CV includes global investment banks, including BlackRock, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank), fintech’s and various government and regulatory bodies, took over from Steve Vallas in mid September. Blockchain Australia is the… Read more »
Australian blockchain fintech Ettle is hoping to introduce an Australian dollar stablecoin for business in 2023 in defiance of a jittery market following torrid year for the cryptocurrency space. The startup has just completed a pilot transaction between business clients on its stablecoin infrastructure platform using the digital Australian dollar token AUDE. Reserve funds are… Read more »
The Australian Stock Exchange has pulled the pin on its much-vaunted blockchain project after seven years of work and at a loss of about $250 million. The ASX has been working with tech firm Digital Asset (DA) to develop a replacement for its Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) based on distributed ledger technology since the… Read more »
New innovation and investment firm, Skafold signed on former Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas as its new senior technology advisor. The role is responsible for exploring and advising all Skafold activities related to blockchain, digital currencies, digital regulation and technology more broadly. Skafold’s diverse innovation and investment ecosystem works closely with innovators and entrepreneurs to… Read more »
Former FlyBuys CEO John Merakovsky is one of three tech heavyweights to join the food supply chain integrity and loyalty solution Orijin Plus. Melbourne-based Merakovsky is the new chair of the Orijin Plus board, bringing a quarter century of digital technology and commercialisation experience to the team. Most recently, he implemented a digital infrastructure overhaul… Read more »
A former child slave who escaped civil war in Somalia for a new life in Australia, where she started out washing dishes for $5 an hour before going to become chief information officer at Qantas, has raised $28.3 million for her blockchain-based food supply chain startup. The round in Jamila Gordon’s Lumachain was led by… Read more »
Telstra’s VC arm, Telstra Ventures, has taken a deep dive into web3 and blockchain world amid the crypto crash that’s wiped $1.3 trillion in value from investors, with the market down 60% since January, to see who’s survived and thrived. The 12-page report, titled Blockchain Open-Source Developers Signal Strength of Web3 Community, shows that web3-developer… Read more »
Cryptocurrencies account for less than 1% of the investment portfolio of high-net worth (HNW) people in Asia-Pacific, despite considerable holdings in alternative assets. New figures from data and analytics company GlobalData found that alt investments account for 12% of the average HNW APAC investor’s portfolio, but after interest in crypto peaked in 2020, they offloaded… Read more »
Local fintech Cointree has found its new CEO internally, handing the role to Jess Renden at the crypto exchange heads towards 10 years in business. Renden signed on with Cointree five years ago after a career at software firm BGL. She takes over from founder Shane Stevenson after eight years heading up the company he… Read more »
Melbourne family investment firm Victor Smorgon Group (VSG) has pioneered another digital transaction using the ANZ bank’s stablecoin, A$DC, this time buying carbon credits. VSG used A$DC to purchase the BCAU carbon tokens from Zerocap, an Australian crypto asset investment platform, via BetaCarbon, which tokenises Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) into digital tokens, with each representing… Read more »
Sixtree founders Ben Wylie and Yamen Sader have left their roles at big four consultancy firm Deloitte Australia to launch their own “engineering for equity” startup, Lab Eleven. It marks a full-time return to entrepreneurship for the duo six years after Sixtree, a software engineering shop, was absorbed by Deloitte in 2016, and they took… Read more »
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