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Online Australian platform SelfWealth is expected to become the country’s first traditional stockbroker to offer cryptocurrencies to domestic clients.
According to a press release on Tuesday, the platform has signed a deal with one of the country’s longest-running crypto exchanges, BTC Markets, in a bid to open doors for SelfWealth clients to hold digital assets under one roof.
“Currently, moving between popular investment types usually requires access to multiple trading platforms and for investors to move money multiple times,” said SelfWealth CEO Cath Whitaker. “We wanted to make investing in cryptocurrency as seamless as possible.”
SelfWealth customers will be able to trade five cryptos, pending approval from financial watchdog AUSTRAC, though the specifics on which assets will be selected have not yet been disclosed.
“While the interface is going to be different, it’s still going through the exchange so no logistical or system difference,” BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler told Blockworks. “If you already have a SelfWealth account, you don’t need to set up a new BTC Markets account…that keeps all crypto, ASX, US and soon-to-be Singapore securities in one place.”
SelfWealth, an 11-year-old fintech, is Australia’s fourth-largest online brokerage platform with close to 120,000 active members and $8 billion in assets under management, according to the release.
The move extends upon SelfWealth’s seven-month search for a viable exchange partner which had scheduled to begin offering crypto to its customers by the end of last year. The broker said it decided to pursue crypto after it discovered more than 30% of its members were already trading in digital assets.
The island nation, which currently houses 800,000 crypto investors, is expected to introduce a new regulatory framework this year for payments that will focus on creating a licensing regime for digital assets.
Earlier this month, the country gifted a grant to tax accountant Kova Tax for the development of its crypto tax reporting platform, marking another first as Australia begins to quicken the pace in crypto adoption, regulation and education.
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