https://ift.tt/tP41KDY Becomes First Brokerage to Offer Australians Cryptocurrency Services

Australians will be able to trade crypto as well as US, ASX, and soon-to-be Singapore securities all in one place. Existing clients won’t have to open a new account and will only see minor interface changes.

To offer this service, SelfWealth signed a deal with BTC markets, one of Australia’s longest-running crypto exchanges.

Customers will be able to trade five digital assets from the second quarter of 2022, said Carlone Bowers, the CEO of BTC Markets. That, however, is pending approval from the financial watchdog AUSTRAC.

Making Crypto Investing Easy

SelfWealth CEO Cath Whitaker said the company aims to “make investing in cryptocurrency as seamless as possible.”

“Currently, moving between popular investment types usually requires access to multiple trading platforms and for investors to move money multiple times.”

The ease of use and lower fees might attract more investors into the crypto space, despite the price recent drops.

“This is a good time to launch. Bitcoin has a speculative nature, but the dips present opportunities, and it is reclaiming a fair value.”

Bowers added that everyone involved with crypto in the last five years is aware of its cyclical nature.

SelfWealth will also offer educational tools for investors that are just getting into the industry. In particular, Whitaker underlined that the company is “very upfront around disclosure and risk.”

Crypto investing comes with ups and downs, so following the trend, many might rush with their investments. Bowler concluded with “It’s only risky if it lacks transparency.”

Australians Love Crypto

SelfWealth stated that they decided to introduce cryptocurrency services after discovering that more than 30% of their members were already trading such assets. In fact, there are around 800,000 crypto investors in Australia.

Moreover, Australia’s chief tax authority said that more than 100,000 citizens paid taxes on crypto profits in 2021.

SelfWealth is the country’s fourth-largest brokerage platform with 120,000 active investors. Moreover, the 11-year-old firm has $8 billion in assets under management.

On the other hand, BTC markets claimed that more than 300,000 Australians traded over $21 billion worth of crypto on its platform.

Partnerships between crypto exchanges and stock brokerages show that digital asset trading is becoming mainstream.

Pro-Crypto Regulations

Additionally, Australian regulators want the country to become the world’s crypto hub. This includes tech innovation and mining.

Last year, a Senate committee recommended tax laws that could benefit the adoption of blockchain tech. Separately, the country’s financial regulators gave the green light to exchange-traded funds tracking the performance of bitcoin and ether.