Australian micro-investment startup Raiz is set to bring Bitcoin (BTC) fund options to its users, Australian Fiscal Review (AFR) reports on January. twenty. The firm cleared the concluding legal hurdle with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the state's financial watchdog agency.

Raiz is a fintech startup offering micro-investment services to its 300,000 registered accounts. Like the United States-based Acorns and other worldwide startups, information technology "rounds upwardly" the spare change from the users' purchases to invest it in a set of investment products, more often than not comprising exchange traded funds (ETFs).

According to AFR sources, Raiz has been pushing to include Bitcoin in its offering, and has reportedly obtained a relief from ASIC to operate the fund. This was seemingly the last legal hurdle, paving the way for implementation in the first half of 2022.

The proposed Bitcoin retail fund is said to only classify v percent to a direct Bitcoin exposure, with the remainder equanimous of ETFs.

Co-ordinate to December figures, Raiz has 445 million Australian dollars ($305 million)  in funds nether direction from 211,000 paying customers.

Commonwealth of australia'southward regulatory landscape

Regulators accept in the past taken a very cautious opinion to cryptocurrencies. As Cointelegraph reported in May 2022, the country'due south regulators released detailed guidelines for miners, exchanges and initial coin offering projects. Specifically, information technology reiterated the need for cryptocurrency businesses to apply for all the relevant licenses and to adhere to its Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer regulations.

Other government representatives remained skeptical of decentralized currencies. Australia's Cardinal Bank published a study arguing that cryptocurrencies are unlikely to supersede the Australian dollar, citing primarily usability and scalability concerns.

In Nov, the Australian Minister of Habitation Affairs warned that cryptocurrencies facilitated terrorism by obfuscating their financial activities.