Online Australian share-trading platform SelfWealth is expected to become the country’s first traditional stockbroker to offer cryptocurrencies to domestic clients, though it has yet to specify a launch date.
SelfWealth has signed a deal with one of Australia’s longest-running crypto exchanges, BTC Markets, with the aim of allowing its clients to hold digital assets under one roof. Customers will be able to trade up to five cryptos, pending regulatory approval from financial watchdog AUSTRAC, though the specifics on which assets will be selected are yet to be disclosed.
Original Plan to Launch by Late 2021
Established in 2011, SelfWealth has close to 120,000 active members and A$8 billion in assets under management. The Melbourne-based fintech spent seven months looking for a viable exchange partner and had originally planned to begin offering crypto to its customers by the end of last year.
The broker decided to pursue crypto after discovering more than 30 percent of its members were already trading in digital assets, flagging its plans to offer crypto trading to its customers as long ago as last July.
According to SelfWealth chief executive Cath Whitaker, “This is a good time to launch. Bitcoin has a speculative nature, but the dips present opportunities and it is reclaiming a fair value.”
ASIC Warns Investors to Brace for Losses
BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler agrees, but says the more interesting story centres on the crypto liquidity crunch, with Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman Joseph Longo warning investors last month to prepare for potentially significant losses on crypto investments.
“[Crypto investing] is only risky if it lacks transparency,” Bowler says.
“We’re very upfront around disclosure and risk,” adds SelfWealth’s Whitaker, declaring the company felt comfortable with the BTC Markets partnership due to a shared understanding of “what cryptocurrency is, and isn’t”.
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