Australian trading platform SelfWealth set to offer crypto trading to its users

Australian trading platform SelfWealth set to offer crypto trading to its users

SelfWealth (ASX: SWF), the publicly listed company, has become the first Australian online share trading platform that offers cryptocurrency investing following the announcement of its deal with the local crypto exchange BTC Markets. 

CEO of BTC Markets, Caroline Bowler, has stated that the decision is currently pending approval from Australian financial regulator AUSTRAC and that investors would be able to trade five primary crypto assets startingQ2 in 2022.

Both SelfWealth and BTC Markets had been unable to provide a comment on which crypto assets would be made available for purchase. However, it is reasonably likely that market leaders like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are proposed to be among them.

Selfwealth is Australia’s fourth-largest online brokerage platform that had announced its journey into cryptocurrencies in July 2021 with the $8-billion-dollar broker. It had released a report outlining that 30 percent of its total users had already been investing in cryptocurrency, while another 38 percent were looking to invest in the future.

Speaking about the current fears of “crypto winter” that can potentially dampen the enthusiasm of retail crypto buyers, Bowler has responded confidently, stating that anyone who has been around for long would know that “crypto is volatile” and that looking at the crypto markets from the perspective of a few months deal is impractical.

Further, Bowler drew on her personal experiences sharing that she has been through a crypto winter before, so she doesn’t think they are at it at present, rather what the crypto community was currently seeing is “more of a reasonable response to market conditions” instead of a fully-fledged crypto-winter.

Bowler said rather than being concerned with the expected volatility of crypto markets; it was quite impressive from a trading standpoint was “the wall of interest on the buy side… no one in the broader market really wants to sell.”

Bowler also said that SelfWealth and BTC Market’s recent collaboration had demonstrated even further legitimacy to the broad-scale adoption of cryptocurrency across the country.

Although crypto is still largely seen as a “risky” asset, SelfWealth, having a customer base of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) and more traditional investors, has proven it is looking to distinguish itself from the crowd by quelling the misconception.

Bowler also said that she believes crypto would “be a pillar of Australia’s financial services industry” in the upcoming 3 to 5 years. Financial services make up 8 percent of Australia’s total economic output, so for her, it is assumable that crypto “can support 10-15 percent of that.”