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Australia to Regulate Crypto Sector as Part of Payments Reform

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Australia to Regulate Crypto Sector as Part of Payments Reform

The government of Australia is preparing to comprehensively regulate the activities of cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians. The push is part of a major overhaul, aimed at preserving the country’s sovereignty over its payments system, which will also affect providers like Apple and Google.

Payment Laws in Australia to Cover Crypto Business and Big Tech

Authorities in Australia are gearing up to update the nation’s legislation governing payments in the largest reform of the industry in over two decades. The changes will expand the regulatory framework to encompass new payment processors in the online space including those dealing with cryptocurrencies.

Australia to Regulate Crypto Sector as Part of Payments Reform

In 2022, the government will begin consultations on the establishment of a licensing framework for crypto exchanges and the regulation of platforms holding digital assets on behalf of clients, Reuters reported. Canberra also wants to explore the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

With a daily number now reaching 55 million, non-cash payments, including crypto transactions, have spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic as many Australians have turned to online options. Close to half of them are using their phones to make payments while in 2021 those transacting in crypto have increased by 63% over the previous year.

Australia’s plan to broaden its payment regulations also aims to cover online transaction processors such as Apple and Google as well as buy-now-pay-later providers like Afterpay. The goal is to put an end to their unsupervised operations in the country. Speaking on the need for the amendments, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg warned:

If we do not reform the current framework, it will be Silicon Valley that determines the future of our payment system. Australia must retain its sovereignty over our payment system.

Google and Apple have so far refrained from commenting on the announcement but a spokesperson for Afterpay has been quoted as stating that the company supports “any approach that takes into account consumer benefits from the innovation and competition Afterpay has brought to the market.” The platform has agreed to a buyout from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s payments firm Square, Reuters noted.

Australia’s move comes at a time when a number of other major economies are taking steps to determine their regulatory policies regarding financial innovations, including cryptocurrencies. Unlike China and India, for example, Australia is preparing to take a more inclusive approach similar to that of the United States, the report suggests.

Do you think the Australian government will adopt crypto-friendly regulations? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

Bitwise CIO Says $100K Bitcoin a Difficult Prediction to Make, Calls Ethereum the ‘Asset of the Year’

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Bitwise CIO Says $100K Bitcoin a Difficult Prediction to Make, Calls Ethereum the 'Asset of the Year'

While there’s been an awful lot of calls for bitcoin to reach six-digits in value in 2021, as the end of the year draws closer, it doesn’t seem like $100K per bitcoin will happen. Bitwise Asset Management’s chief investment officer Matt Hougan told the press on Monday that “$100,000 by the end of the year is a difficult prediction to make.”

$100K Bitcoin Prices May Be Unattainable in 2021 — Bitwise Exec Says Next Year ‘Investors Are Going to Be Looking at Ethereum’

For a good portion of the year, many bitcoin advocates, experts, luminaries, and analysts predicted that bitcoin (BTC) would surely hit the $100K per unit range in 2021. One of the most popular forecasts belongs to Plan B, the creator of the stock-to-flow (S2F) bitcoin price model. Plan B said based on the pseudonymous analyst’s “worst case scenario for 2021 (price/on-chain based)” would be “Aug>47K, Sep>43K, Oct>63K, Nov>98K, Dec>135K.”

However, November’s price call missed and the $135K prediction looks like it will miss as well. Bitcoin would have to double in value over the next 24 days gathering a touch over 96% during that time. Plan B is not the only one that has predicted BTC could hit six-digits in USD value by the year’s end. The financial institution Standard Chartered predicted at the beginning of September that bitcoin’s value could reach $100K by the end of the year.

Yahoo Finance contributor, Javier David, said on October 21, that “suddenly, a bitcoin move to $100K doesn’t seem so farfetched.” In fact there’s a great number of analysts that have said that at some point in the future, bitcoin prices will touch the six-digit zone or $100,000 or more per unit. Speaking with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, Bitwise Asset Management’s CIO Matt Hougan explains that bitcoin hitting $100K will be difficult in 2021. Hougan further explained that ethereum (ETH) was the “asset of the year” in 2021.

“I think as we look into 2022, we still have these fundamental drivers, the institutions we speak to every day at Bitwise,” Hougan explained. “$100,000 by the end of the year is a difficult prediction to make — I think $100,000 could be in target in 2022 but this year, I’m not so sure,” Hougan remarked.

Hougan Predicts an ‘Explosion of Activity Built on Ethereum’

As far as the second-largest crypto asset by market capitalization, ethereum (ETH), Hougan thinks 2021 was the digital currency’s year. While noting to Bloomberg’s Chang that ethereum was the “asset of the year,” Hougan also stressed that there will be an “explosion of activity built on Ethereum” next year. But investors will be looking at other smart contract blockchain networks as well, the Bitwise CIO said. Hougan added:

Investors are going to be looking at Ethereum, Solana, or Polygon. Investors are starting to realize there’s more to crypto than just Bitcoin. If there’s one bigger story for next year, it’s going to be everything else: crypto as defi, NFTs, Web3, or metaverse.

What do you think about the Bitwise CIO’s cryptocurrency predictions? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

2021’s BTC Obituary List Accelerated This Year, 41 Alleged Bitcoin Deaths Recorded

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2021's BTC Obituary List Accelerated This Year, 41 Alleged Bitcoin Deaths Recorded

As bitcoin and a number of crypto assets have dropped in value during the last two weeks, its seems that everyone’s hope for six-digit bitcoin prices has become unattainable. However, year-to-date, bitcoin has risen more than 150% in value and despite the rise, skeptics and critics continue to assume bitcoin is dead. In fact, the infamous bitcoin obituary list indicates that 2021 is tied with 2019 for having the third-largest number of obituaries in a year.

Bitcoin Obituaries: 2021 Is Now Tied With 2019


On November 10, bitcoin (BTC) tapped an all-time price high at $69K per unit and has since slid below the $50K zone. It seems that higher prices give skeptics the opportunity to declare bitcoin is dead after the leading crypto asset sheds a decent amount of value during market downturns. In 2017, when BTC came awfully close to reaching $20K per unit, the bitcoin obituaries list, hosted on 99bitcoins.com shows that there were 124 bitcoin deaths that year.

The second-largest year for BTC obituaries was the following year in 2018, as there were 93 declarations made saying bitcoin has met its demise. This month, 2021 has tied 2019 for the third-largest number of bitcoin deaths in a year’s time. Following the crypto bear market after 2017’s all-time price high, 2019 captured an aggregate of 41 bitcoin obituaries. As of November 29, 2021, 2021 has accrued the same amount of death sentences.

The last obituary written about BTC, on November 29, was published by the author Bill Blain via the website capx.co. The bitcoin obituary is called “Bitcoin Is Nothing But A Ponzi Scheme,” and Blain claims cryptocurrencies also accelerate inflation.

“Crypto is bogus, and is not money,” the bitcoin obituary written by Blain insists. “It’s far too volatile to be a store of value, it is scarce and not a unit of account. I could explain why it can’t work as money because it is likely to prove an inflationary accelerant, equivalent to pouring petrol on a fire.”

Bill Blain: ‘Regulators Will Be Exposed for Not Acting Earlier’


Furthermore, Blain says that once in a while he reads about the blockchain technology behind digital assets. “Periodically, I delve into the myriad of utter rubbish that masquerades as the blockchain genius, the maths and computing logic behind cryptos,” Blain stresses in his opinion piece. “Read it yourself – it’s 10% fascinating and 90% utter garbage. Mathematical dyslexia puked out and dressed up as original thinking and ‘proof of concept.’” Blain’s scathing review of the crypto economy adds:

Cryptos have thrived because social media, the internet and connectivity have made it easy to disseminate the con around the global markets at incredible speed. They’ve succeeded because regulators haven’t stopped them – hat-tip to the Chinese for being ahead of the regulatory pack in that regard. Someday, the last greater fool will want his money back, and regulators will be exposed for not acting earlier.


Despite Blain’s opinion and the 40 other bitcoin obituaries that preceded his opinion editorial, bitcoin (BTC) is alive and well. There are not many assets that exist in this world that could be called “dead” or “near-deceased” after climbing more than 150% higher in value in 12 months. Blain also criticizes cryptocurrencies in general, many of which have seen their values swell by significantly larger percentages than BTC’s year-to-date gains.

The number of so-called bitcoin deaths in 2021 recorded on 99bitcoins.com is also much larger than BTC’s first four years of bitcoin obituaries combined. This shows that the more BTC and the crypto economy mature, the more blowback they seem to get from critics and skeptics. While there’s been a lot of 2021 death calls, it seems as though they are just not strong enough theories to stop bitcoin from gathering another year’s worth of obituaries in 2022.

What do you think about the bitcoin obituaries list gathering 41 deaths this year? What do you think about Bill Blain’s recent opinion editorial? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Russia, Ukraine Shut Down Several Cryptocurrency Farms

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Russia, Ukraine Shut Down Several Cryptocurrency Farms

Authorities in Russia and Ukraine have closed down a number of illegal crypto mining facilities allegedly powered by stolen electricity. The underground farms have been discovered around the capital cities, Kyiv and Moscow, as well as in the Russian republic of Dagestan.

Russia Busts Illegal Mining Farms in Moscow Region and Dagestan

Russian law enforcement and customs agents have recently uncovered the theft of a large amount of electricity from the network operated by Rosseti in Moscow Oblast, the region adjacent to Russia’s capital. Tass broke the news about the operation this week, quoting Ekaterina Korotkova from the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office. The official explained:

An audit revealed an unauthorized connection to the power grid, theft of electricity and illegal seizure of land for the operation of equipment designed to perform cryptographic calculations related to the mining of digital currencies.

The cost of the illegally consumed electricity used to power the mining hardware exceeds 500,000 rubles a day (almost $7,000), Korotkova detailed. Authorities have launched a criminal case and intend to prosecute the owners of the coin minting facility.

Two cryptocurrency farms were also busted in Dagestan, a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus. In late November, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported that a large mining operation had been found in a mountainous region. Preliminary data from the investigation suggests that its unknown operators have caused damages of an estimated 1 million rubles (over $13,000).

Local police have also uncovered a mining enterprise in Botlikh district where miners were connected to the grid without permission. According to a report by Forklog quoting Dagestan’s interior ministry, the crypto farm had been set up since November and run by a 35-year-old resident of Dakhadayevsky district who stole power worth 257,000 rubles (around $3,500).

The law “On Digital Financial Assets,” which went into force in January, regulated some crypto-related activities in the Russian Federation but cryptocurrency mining, among others, isn’t one of them. Calls have been mounting among officials in Moscow this year to recognize the business as an entrepreneurial activity and tax it accordingly.

Underground Crypto Farm Found in Kyiv Region, Ukraine

Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced Friday it had discovered an illegal mining facility in Kyiv Oblast. According to the main Ukrainian law enforcement agency, three local residents have installed a number of ASICs in a hangar they rented in the Buchansky district of the region bordering the capital. They have allegedly used electrical energy worth 3.5 million hryvnia (more than $128,000).

The rising popularity of cryptocurrencies has turned Ukraine into a leader in adoption in recent years and the government has been taking steps to legalize “virtual assets.” While bitcoin mining is not banned, it isn’t yet regulated. This year, the SBU has been going after miners taking advantage of the country’s electricity supply network, shutting down a number of crypto farms in various regions, including a large data center in central Ukraine last month.

Do you expect Russia and Ukraine to regulate cryptocurrency mining in the near future? Tell us in the comments section below.

Leading Supermarket Chain in Croatia Introduces Crypto Payments

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Leading Supermarket Chain in Croatia Introduces Crypto Payments

Customers of the largest supermarket chain in Croatia will be able to pay with cryptocurrency for their orders in the retailer’s online shop. The company plans to soon offer the crypto payment option also at its physical stores throughout the country.

Konzum Allows Shoppers in Croatia to Pay With 9 Cryptocurrencies

Croatia’s supermarket chain with the largest number of stores, Konzum, is now accepting cryptocurrency for groceries and other items sold through its online shopping platform. Starting from Dec. 1, customers can buy any of the 12,000 listed products using nine major cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), EOS, DAI, XRP, XLM, and the stablecoins USDT and USDC.

Leading Supermarket Chain in Croatia Introduces Crypto Payments

“The introduction of cryptocurrency payments is another indicator that Konzum is constantly monitoring global trends, introducing innovations and setting the standard in the retail sector,” said Uroš Kalinić, member of the Management Board of Konzum responsible for finance and IT. Noting the chain’s decades-long history as a leader in terms of business results and technological achievements in Croatia, the representative added:

We are proud to be leaders in another area that is rapidly developing and dictating the future.

The cryptocurrency payments have been enabled by the Croatian payment processor Paycek, a platform developed by the local fintech company Electrocoin. The integration with Konzum’s online store allows buyers to select a desired coin and complete the payment by scanning a generated QR code.

Once the transaction is finalized, shoppers will receive a confirmation email from the Paycek system and Konzum will send them an invoice. As crypto prices can be quite volatile, Paycek will guarantee users a temporarily fixed exchange rate.

The new payment method is currently only available for online orders. However, Konzum said in the announcement published on Wednesday that it intends to also introduce crypto payments at its stores across Croatia in the near future.

Paycek has so far facilitated the adoption of cryptocurrencies by various other businesses in the country. In September, Croatian e-bike company Greyp Bikes integrated crypto payments into its online billing system to allow enthusiasts to purchase high-tech cycling products using digital coins. Earlier this year, more than 40 Tifon gas stations started accepting cryptos using the services of Paycek.

Do you expect other major retailers in Croatia to introduce cryptocurrency payments? Tell us in the comments section below.