Australia Financial News

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However, the UK was far from alone in seeing a drop off and remains the centre of European fintech investment, with firms attracting more funding than their counterparts in the rest of Emea combined.Karim Haji, UK and Emea head of financial services, KPMG, says: "Despite the drop in both value and volume, it was a strong year for the UK fintech industry. The UK is a major global player, with investment in UK fintech only behind that of the US and Australia."Total global fintech investment fell to $164.1 billion across 6006 deals in 2022, after reaching a record $238.9 billion across 7321 deals the previous year.Payments remains the strongest area of fintech investment globally, with $53.1 billion in investment compared to US$57.1 billion in 2021; Regtech was the only sector to buck the downward trend, with investment in the space rising from US$11.8 billion in 2021 to a record $18.6 billion.In contrast, investment in crypto and blockchain fell from $30 billion in 2021 to $23.1 billion in 2022.

Users of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX have reportedly taken aim at financiers who promoted the platform suggesting their efforts added an “air of legitimacy” to the now-defunct exchange, a case labeled as "tricky" by a crypto lawyer.

Australia-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company, Iris Energy, revealed it will nearly triple its mining capacity with the addition of thousands of mining rigs.

A book once slated to be released by Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, has been pulled before it could ever hit the shelves and the publisher of the title is trying to "remove all trace of it online."

Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist and self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, has had a copyright claim for Bitcoin rejected by a London court, with the judge saying the subject matter “is not expressed or fixed anywhere.”

According to a press release published on Feb. 8, blockchain carbon credit transaction network Carbonplace has secured $45 million in an investment round from its nine founder banks with a combined $9 trillion in assets under management. The banks are BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, National Australia Bank, NatWest, Standard Chartered, SMBC, and UBS. The London-based fintech has also announced that it will become an independent entity, led by new CEO Scott Eaton.

Education is a well-known barrier to entry for many when it comes to crypto and Web3 space. This is particularly true when it comes to understanding the underlying technology that powers these new innovations. 

From beer breweries on opposite ends of the globe to aircraft technicians in isolated airports, telecoms infrastructure firm Nokia has been looking for ways to use the Metaverse to aid remotely-located workers.

Gavin Andresen, the former lead Bitcoin developer appointed by Satoshi Nakamoto himself, now regrets that he once supported the controversial Australian computer scientist Craig Wright.

The U.K. outline of the future financial services regulatory regime for crypto covers a broad range of topics, from the troubles of algorithmic stablecoins to nonfungible tokens and initial coin offerings. And it’s certainly good news for the industry, as the upcoming regulation doesn’t propose a ban on algorithmic stablecoins or excessive requirements on data sharing for digital asset operators.

On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, American billionaire Tim Draper pitched the idea of adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender to fight against the corruption that contributed to hyperinflation in the island country. However, a key Sri Lankan authority — central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe — believed doing so would worsen the country’s economic situation.

India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, stated that regulation “cannot be done” by a single country, it requires “collective action,” in a recent television interview.

The tZERO Crypto exchange, whose majority owner is Overstock, will shut down on March 6, the company announced via Twitter on Feb. 3. The company says that it will continue to focus on its regulated securities products after the shutdown, as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators clarify the legal status of crypto assets.

The European Union agreed to cap the sales price of premium Russian petroleum products such as diesel at $100 a barrel and limit low-value ones such as fuel oil to $45 a barrel, clearing the way for Western allies to expand sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, according to people familiar with the deal.

In August 2022 the Government announced that it would take a more serious approach to the crypto ecosystem, and that “token mapping” would be a “foundational step in the Government’s multi-stage reform agenda that commits to developing appropriate regulatory settings for the crypto sector.” The paper explains that “token mapping is the process of identifying the key activities and functions of products in the crypto ecosystem and mapping them against existing regulatory frameworks.” It notes that token mapping is a key first step to planned and future crypto ecosystem initiatives and will: (a) ensure consistency in regulating activities (i.e. be technology neutral) (b) facilitate existing policy goals (i.e.

Following the global regulatory race, Australia opened the public consultation on its own taxonomy of crypto assets. The national regulators propose to distinguish four major types of products related to the crypto industry. 

The Australian government is bolstering its market regulator's digital asset team as part of a “multi-stage approach” aimed at clamping down on crypto and ensuring proper risk disclosures from crypto firms.

It has emerged that the once-thriving FTX exchange had been subject to open inquiries from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) since March 2022.

Australia’s financial regulator reportedly raised concerns over FTX’s local Australian subsidiary as much as eight months before the exchange met its untimely end in November.

The crypto gambling platform based in Australia, Stake.com, has entered a partnership worth $100 million with the Alfa Romeo Racing team, indicating a comeback in crypto-related sponsorships.