The man who bought an NFT of Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey’s first ever tweet for nearly $4 million tried to auction it for $65 million – but the highest bid came in at less than $400. Sina Estavi, CEO of Malaysian blockchain company Bridge Oracle, famously jumped at the opportunity to buy a copy… Read more »
More than 1.07 million Australians now own at least one cryptocurrency, according to new research from Roy Morgan That’s around 5% of the adult population. While Bitcoin and Ethereum are investor favourites, niche coins such as Ripple, Cardano, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Solana, Binance Coin, Litecoin, Cronos, Polygon and other are part of the mix, with… Read more »
Since the invention of Bitcoin in 2009 the global cryptocurrency market has grown from nothing to a value of around US$2 trillion. From a price of US$1 in 2011, Bitcoin rose to an all-time high of more than US$63,000 in April 2021, and now hovers around the US$42,000 mark. Large fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices are… Read more »
It’s not every day you can buy at Australian politician, but digital assets fan and NSW Senator Andrew Bragg is offering someone that chance for good cause. Senator Bragg, who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre, advocating that Australia could be a cryptocurrency epicentre and world leader in… Read more »
Credit card giant Visa has launched an immersive program to help arts sector creators tackle the potential of NFTs The Visa Creator Program aims to help digital-first artists, musicians, fashion designers, and filmmakers build their business through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The program will help arts-based entrepreneurs deepen their understanding of the technology and platforms underpinning NFT… Read more »
It has been nearly a year since I last addressed Blockchain Australia Week. When I made that address, I announced that the Select Committee which I Chaired – then called the Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology – would be extended under new Terms of Reference. These Terms of Reference would focus… Read more »
Digital broker Stake is joining competitors such as Superhero and the Commonwealth Bank to offer cryptocurrency investing on its platform. The move to embrace crypto follows research commissioned by the platform last year that revealed crypto was second only to stocks in the portfolio for Australian investors under 40. Last November, CBA announced plans to… Read more »
“We’re not gonna take it”, the 80s anthem by US heavy metal band Twisted Sister, has endured an interesting second life in recent years. It’s currently a rallying cry for Ukrainians resisting Russia’s invasion of the nation and the band’s lead signer, Dee Snider, is with them all the way – while also taking a… Read more »
Harsh economic sanctions were meant to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, but there are already signs that Russia’s government and wealthy oligarchs may be using cryptocurrency to work around Western financial controls. Backed by tax havens around the world including Switzerland and Monaco, direct sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the wealthy oligarchs that support him have… Read more »
It has been nearly a year since the Senate Select Committee decided that we needed to pivot to focus exclusively on the opportunities and challenges of digital assets. Cryptocurrency and digital assets were evolving at such a pace, it demanded our urgent attention. As a lawmaker, I was focused on a familiar problem: how to… Read more »
A married couple has been arrested in the US for allegedly possessing and trying to launder 119,754 Bitcoin, today worth $7.4 billion, that were stolen in the 2016 breach of the Bitfinex exchange. The US Justice Department arrested husband-and-wife duo Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Morgan, 31, this week for their alleged involvement in laundering… Read more »
Experts are warning the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) needs to be extremely carefully about how it pursues a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with fears it could destabilise the economy or create a dystopian nightmare. Central banks around the world are now exploring the evolution of fiat currency through CBDCs in response to the… Read more »
Comedian Robin Williams once called cocaine “God’s way of telling you you are making too much money”. This role may now have been overtaken by non-fungible tokens, the blockchain-based means to claim unique ownership of easily copied digital assets. The latest NFT mania involves fantastic amounts of money being paid for “Bored Apes”, 10,000 avatars… Read more »
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) was the greatest economist of the twentieth century. Less well known is that he had a parallel career as a successful investor: fairly successful early in his career, and spectacularly successful later on when he changed his strategy. After the first world war, his income depended more on his investments than… Read more »
iHunt4 is gearing up for a big 2022 after being picked as one of the US National Retail Federation’s top 50 retail startups. Sydney-based augmented reality treasure hunt company iHunt4 is ready to crack the lucrative US market after being selected to host a prominent display at the US National Retail Federation’s Big Show in… Read more »
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