Money laundering and digital currencies
Seven percent of the world's $5 billion worth of supply of Bitcoin is circulated in Australia.
Seven percent of the world's $5 billion worth of supply of Bitcoin is circulated in Australia.
A Senate inquiry has recommended a major shift in the regulatory treatment of digital currencies. The change would remove what advocates of bitcoin have claimed is a major regulatory fetter to the development of Australian businesses based on the crypto-currency.
Reinventure, a $50 million VC fund whose largest investor is Westpac, has made a "strategic investment" in bitcoin-focussed startup Coinbase.
Some people who use uTorrent, the popular BitTorrent client, are up in arms over the presence of cryptocurrency mining software on their computers which they say was installed without their permission.
The Treasury has been monitoring Bitcoin in Australia both from a regulatory perspective and a tax perspective and believes that it is too soon to change taxation laws to provide a boost to local Bitcoin-based businesses.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has issued a gag order to Melbourne-headquartered Bitcoin Group Limited ahead of the company's prospective initial public offering.
Australian-based mobile payment company mHITs today launched BitMoby, a service that allows people to use bitcoins to purchase credit for prepaid mobile phone accounts.
In response to Bitcoin price volatility, CoinJar is allowing users to lock in the fiat money price of bitcoins with the launch of Hedged Accounts.
Webjet today began trialling Bitcoin payments for its 'Webjet Exclusives' arm, which offers deals the travel agency has directly negotiated with suppliers. Webjet is the first online travel agency in Australia to embrace the digital currency.
Last year there were more than 10,000 web hits related to versions of the TorrentLocker malware tailored to Australian audiences in a single month of monitoring by security researchers.
Bitcoin transactions between individual users shouldn't be regulated — but businesses offering services based on Bitcoin and other digital currencies should be regulated in a similar manner to other payment services, PayPal has argued.
Microsoft has announced it will support the use of the Bitcoin crypto-currency for purchasing digital goods.
The Australian Crime Commission has revealed the existence of an operation to monitor the use of digital currencies including BitCoin by criminals.
MasterCard has used a submission to a Senate inquiry to argue for Australian regulators to move against the pseudonymity of digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
Although Bitcoin is the only crypto-currency with market strength in Australia, it still represents a "relatively low" fiscal risk according to the Australian Taxation Office.