The Challenges of Crypto Adoption in Australia

Cryptocurrencies are taking a broader space in the media, with Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs —reaching levels of AU$52,000— and the cryptomarket now worth more than $1 trillion. With so much movement in the crypto space, BTC and Binance Australia recently landed in several Australian newspapers.

The adoption of crypto by the Aussie public grew considerably in 2020. On Wednesday, The Australian published an article by the market analyst David Rogers, addressing the issues Self Managed Super Funds face with crypto investments.

In the news piece, Rogers, together with analysts from the SMFS funds, stated that the problems of setting crypto with SMSFs do not rely on legislation but their usefulness. Two issues for SMFS auditors are Proof of Ownership and Proof of Value.

The auditor will need to be able to see something that verifies that your cryptocurrency holdings exist and have the value that you have placed on them and you haven’t just transferred the money to someone who says they’re selling you cryptocurrencies. It is these two problems, proof of ownership and proof of value that often cause problems with unusual assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Advertisement

Stated Meg Heffron, Heffron’s managing director.

The Growing Adoption Interest In Australia

Jeff Yew, CEO of Binance Australia, shared his thoughts with Cryptonews Australia about the future of cryptocurrencies for the country this year. Yew believes there will be an even broader adoption for digital assets this year by retailers and institutional investors:

I believe that this year, we will continue to see increased institutional adoption of Bitcoin as a reserve asset, which is likely to cause a supply squeeze of Bitcoin traded on the market, whilst its demand continues to rise. In Binance Australia, we have seen our SMSF and corporate user base growing 400% compared to the previous quarter.

But there still is a lack of education between the Aussie public when it comes to managing SMFS for cryptocurrencies, which why Yew plans to expand the reach of the Binance Masterclass this 2021 to facilitate the process. On the differences between this and the bull run of 2017, Yew added:

What has been significantly different this year to 2017 is that we’ve seen a massive increase in institutional interest in the asset class, more mature regulations, as well as safer and more convenient fiat on & off ramp bridges into digital currencies, offered by regulated exchanges like Binance Australia.

Aussie analysts like Mark Rodda agree that this year could bring exciting moments for the crypto market. By the end of 2020, Australia registered a record number of new crypto fintech companies with a 153 % growth. A positive sign of the expanding popularity of digital assets in the country.

I personally see Bitcoin as the money of the people, it’s money backed by maths instead of politics and bureaucracy, so it bears no biases to the millions of people using it. Some choose to use it as an alternative savings account, some see it as part of a well hedged asset portfolio, some use it as a currency. It acts as a check and balance to incautious fiscal planning by central banks, as people now have a choice to protect their wealth against inflation.

Stated Jeff Yew for Cryptonews Australia.