An increasing number of Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), even accounting firms, are investing in cryptoassets, following examples of Tesla and MicroStrategy, according to local crypto exchange Swyftx.
Over the past year, Swyft’x customer base has grown from around 15,000 users to some 320,000 today, with some of those newly acquired customers being individuals and persons representing trusts and self-managed superannuation funds, but many others hailing from SMEs, Tommy Honan, Head of strategic partnerships at the Australian exchange, told local news site Stockhead. Among the individuals, around 5%-6% are high-net-worth accounts with more than AUD 250,000 (USD 187,000) in assets.
“We’ve got accounting firms. We’ve got building and construction companies. We’ve got property development companies. We’re seeing a pretty large uptick in these types of accounts,” Honan was quoted as saying. He did not provide any specific numbers, only saying that high-net-worth individuals are not buying cryptoassets outside the top 100 list.
In either case, Australians might get more alternatives to invest in cryptoassets in the near future.
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is reviewing a number of applications for a cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) that could be launched as soon as this year, Business Insider Australia reported in May, citing “several industry sources.”
“You can see how mainstream this has become at an institutional level in developed markets, like the US, Canada, Europe, and the UK. You can’t ignore that. We can’t ignore it, and we’re not,” ASX executive general manager Max Cunningham was quoted as saying.
An ETF would enable everyday investors to own cryptoassets like bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) as part of their everyday share portfolio, while Australia’s superannuation funds could also invest in this asset class.
Superannuation assets totaled AUD 3.1trn (USD 2.31trn) at the end of March this year, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.
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Source: Cryptonews
