Raiz to Offer Bitcoin Fund to Australian Retail Investors in 2020

Australian micro-investment startup Raiz is about to deliver Bitcoin (BTC) fund choices to its customers, Australian Monetary Assessment (AFR) reviews on Jan. 20. The agency cleared the final authorized hurdle with the Australian Securities and Funding Fee (ASIC), the nation’s monetary watchdog company.

Raiz is a fintech startup providing micro-investment companies to its 300,000 registered accounts. Just like the United States-based Acorns and different worldwide startups, it “rounds up” the spare change from the customers’ purchases to take a position it in a set of funding merchandise, usually comprising alternate traded funds (ETFs).

In response to AFR sources, Raiz has been pushing to incorporate Bitcoin in its providing, and has reportedly obtained a aid from ASIC to function the fund. This was seemingly the final authorized hurdle, paving the way in which for implementation within the first half of 2020.

The proposed Bitcoin retail fund is alleged to solely allocate 5 % to a direct Bitcoin publicity, with the rest composed of ETFs.

In response to December figures, Raiz has 445 million Australian {dollars} ($305 million)  in funds below administration from 211,000 paying clients. 

Australia’s regulatory panorama

Regulators have prior to now taken a really cautious stance to cryptocurrencies. As Cointelegraph reported in Might 2019, the nation’s regulators launched detailed tips for miners, exchanges and preliminary coin providing tasks. Particularly, it reiterated the necessity for cryptocurrency companies to use for all of the related licenses and to stick to its Anti-Cash Laundering and Know Your Buyer rules.

Different authorities representatives remained skeptical of decentralized currencies. Australia’s Central Financial institution revealed a research arguing that cryptocurrencies are unlikely to exchange the Australian greenback, citing primarily usability and scalability issues. 

In November, the Australian Minister of Residence Affairs warned that cryptocurrencies facilitated terrorism by obfuscating their monetary actions.