Cryptocurrencies in Australia: Finance Industry, Policy Makers Can't Ignore It

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This is not the time to be ignoring the private jet on your Christmas wish list, why bets on a May rate rise might be a bit hasty, and some bad news about the private jet on your Christmas wish list. We have been thinking about a few things in Australia.

Is it surprising that Australia has differing views on cryptocurrencies in the age of $ASS coin and JRR token?

Financial Services Minister Jane Hume said this week that this is not a fad, while Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said that one of the biggest risks is missing out. The general perspective in the A$3.3 trillion pension fund industry seems to be that it is still too new. Joe Longo, chair of the corporate regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, says that the boom in the digital currency is too big to ignore.

According to estimates by the Commonwealth Bank, those investors make up 8% of the Australian public. A survey of people I have had a chat with lately shows that you don't have to look very hard to find Australian mechanics, musicians or farmers in a game.

The big downside of cryptocurrencies is the fact that they are volatile, and that the index fell as much as 14 percent this month. As more people join the Australian universe, the peripheries are likely to get weirder. Policy makers and captains of industry want to hold onto the mainstream, even if they don't like Blessed Santa Coin and DumpsterDoge.

India is preparing a bill to regulate digital coins and the U.S. has a plan for digital coins.

The Latin American conference is about the use of technology.

Rate Wait.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise rates in May. Governor Philip Lowe said that the chances of a hike in the next six months are close to zero. The rate rises in New Zealand and South Korea this week might be swaying bond investors, but as my colleague Swati Pandey points out, the Reserve Bank of Australia wants inflation to return to 2.5% before it hikes. The language suggests bond investors will be waiting more than six months for a rate rise.

What are we reading?

There were a few other things that caught our attention.

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