Crypto Update

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ASIC report on crypto investor behaviour

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released a new report showing many Australian investors don’t understand the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies and invested because they didn’t want to miss out. Crypto is now ranked second in the investment product popularity stakes.

In November 2021 a survey was carried out on 1,053 Australian retail investors, with 44 per cent reporting holding crypto which ranked only behind Australian shares, which were held by 73 per cent. Just 20 per cent of crypto investors thought their investment approach was risk-taking, despite ASIC raising concerns about a lack of understanding of the asset class.

ASIC reported concerns of people investing in unregulated, volatile crypto assets, while also acknowledging the appeal of the crypto market.

Key findings of the report include:

  • Bank trading platforms were the most commonly used (31 per cent) followed by three crypto exchanges that were not named in the report.

  • Of crypto investors, about 25 per cent said it was the only investment they held.

  • The most popular investment products after Australian shares and crypto were international shares (31 per cent), exchange-traded funds (ETFs)(28 per cent), gold or silver (21 per cent), residential investment properties (20 per cent) and term deposits (17 per cent).

  • Google was used as a major information source (34 per cent), with social media next (41 per cent), networking platforms such as YouTube (20 per cent), Facebook (11 per cent), podcasts (10 per cent) and finfluencers (10 per cent).

  • Investors used financial institutions (21 per cent), the ASX (20 per cent), company websites (18 per cent), financial planners/advisers/brokers (13 per cent), company financial statements (12 per cent) and annual/quarterly company reports (12 per cent) as a source of information.

  • The age group of 18-34-year-olds made up about half of all investors who started investing during or after March 2020, however, half of those surveyed said they invested because they ‘didn’t want to miss out’. A third of investors said they are in it for the long term.

ASIC has aid crypto is in its list of top priorities, alongside ESG and cyber resilience.

Syfe enters Australian market, publishes report

Digital investment platform Syfe has published a report, Syfe Investor Pulse 2022, based on its survey of over 1,000 people aged 25-45, revealing Australians are diving into crypto in a big way.

Key findings of the report include:

  • Forty-one per cent of those surveyed were already invested in cryptocurrencies

  • Forty-one per cent were either remaining comfortable or feeling more confident investing in crypto, despite volatility

  • Crypto is now on par with property as a future investment vehicle both sitting at 34 per cent

  • Fifty-eight per cent of respondents are confident in achieving their investment goals, with 40 per cent saying perhaps not within the expected timeframe

‘Syfe’ is a Japanese word that means ‘wallet’. The company has over 100,000 customers in Singapore, with their sights now set on the Australian market.

Monochrome now has crypto AFSL

Monochrome Asset Management has received authorisation under an Australian financial services (AFS) licence to offer exposure to crypto assets. ASIC has approved Monochrome’s responsible entity partner, Vasco Trustees, to operate spot-based cyrpto asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs), starting with Monochrome Bitcoin ETF. So far, Monochrome said, no crypto asset ETFs operate under an AFSL with a crypto asset authorisation.

Holon and Gemini launch crypto fund

Holon and Gemini have partnered up to launch Bitcoin, Ethereum and Filecoin funds, offering Australian investors and financial planners access to more regulated crypto access. The Holon Filecoin Fund is the first registered retail managed investment scheme for digital assets outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The funds use a regular retail managed investment scheme with direct investments.

BlackRock launches Bitcoin trust

In partnership with Coinbase, BlackRock has launched a Bitcoin private trust for institutional investors. The trust is available to US clients and is set to track the performance of Bitcoin.