When Andre Eikmeier wrote about the state of his startup Good Empire in May, the project was in a tough place. He had laid off his full team of 12, suppliers were waiting patiently to be paid, and the tax office was hovering around for its cut. Some local news outlets reported this as the… Read more »
Crypto investors hoping to get their cash in a hurry through Binance Australia will be forced to wait a day or two longer after the crypto exchange said it has been forced to stop offering PayID deposits for Australian dollar account holders following “a decision made by our third party payment service provider”. The bebanking… 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 »
Senator Andrew Bragg is pushing once again to introduce regulation for the cryptocurrency sector in Australia, amid ongoing exchange collapses and US regulators investigating alleged illegal activity by Binance. The NSW Liberal, now in opposition, introduced a private senator’s bill to the Senate on Wednesday, accusing financial services minister Stephen Jones of being “uninterested in… Read more »
Concerns about the cryptocurrency, including pending Australian regulation, have not deterred cricketer Steve Smith from wading into sector, taking a minority equity stake in Perth crypto app Bamboo, and also becoming its brand ambassador. The move by Smith comes as US sports stars including NFL legend Tom Brady, NBA star Stephen Curry and tennis champion… Read more »
Sydney fintech CryptoSpend is looking to raise $5 million in a Series A as it sets its sights on expansion into Asia and New Zealand. CryptoSpend launched the first Australian native crypto Visa card in late 2021, which allows users to spend their crypto like cash. Its existing backers include fintech veteran Andrew Porter and the… Read more »
Financial contagions can be triggered easily, if conditions are right. First one financial institution falls and then others follow, like a chain of falling dominoes. The cinder that sparked the global financial crisis in 2007 is considered by many to have been a March 14 briefing by executives of the Lehman Brothers’ investment bank. Under… Read more »
Brisbane fintech Digital Surge is the latest cryptocurrency exchange to be placed in voluntary administration in the wake of the collapse of US exchange. Scott Langdon, John Mouawad and David Johnstone from KordaMentha Restructuring were appointed voluntary administrators on Thursday, after the fintech’s directors made the decision to put the business in VA on Wednesday.… Read more »
Fred Schebesta, the cofounder of comparison website Finder, and one of the country’s leading cryptocurrency advocates, is stepping down from his role as co-CEO and will no longer be the company’s colourful public face. SmartCompany’s Tegan Jones reports that Schebesta will leave his cofounder Frank Restuccia to run the global business on his own, as… 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 »
Not long ago, FTX was one of the world’s largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2019, the Bahamas-based crypto exchange had a meteoric rise to prominence, and was valued at more than US$30 billion earlier this year. All that has changed in the past two weeks. First, concerns emerged about links between FTX and… Read more »
Brisbane cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has laid off 74 staff in the wake of its merger with share trading platform Superhero in June. Co-CEOs Alex Harper and Ryan Parsons broke the news to the a 320 team at a “townhall” meeting on Wednesday saying that they’d decided to reduce the site of the business in the… Read more »
Kiwi VC Global From Day 1 (GD1) has launched New Zealand’s first dedicated web3/crypto-focused venture capital fund. The US$5 million ($NZ7.65m) fund, ‘GD1 Crypto Fund 1’, will be led in-house by cryptocurrency and web3 expert Nawaz Ahmed, who’s signed on as a General Partner. It will look to invest in the next generation of web3/crypto… 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 »
Dogecoin’s Australian co-inventor, Jackson Palmer, has made a rare foray into public debate about the worth of cryptocurrencies, condemning them a cult-like get rich quick scheme for billionaires taking advantage of “the financially desperate and naive”. In a 10-tweet thread, Palmer, whose Twitter account is normally silent, lambasted cryptocurrencies as “almost purpose built to make… Read more »
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