AUSTRAC approves license for Blockbid, Australia’s first insured exchange

Australian government financial intelligence agency Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has approved a license for Australia’s first insured cryptocurrency exchange, Blockbid, to legally operate as a digital currency exchange in Australia, according to a press release CoinReport received from Blockbid’s PR firm, Stature PR. The cryptocurrency exchange is just the third recipient of an AUSTRAC license.

Blockbid said in the press release it aims to offer the most comprehensive offering of digital currency on one single exchange platform while charging a fixed, extremely low transaction fee of 0.1% and protecting users by insuring them against any potential cyberattacks.

Moreover, the exchange said that during its upcoming beta launch, it will offer users the ability to trade with four different fiat currencies, while at least seven more fiat currencies will be made available in the next 6-12 months.

All these features together, said the Australian crypto exchange, offer a more complete exchange than the last two AUSTRAC licensees, and in fact than any other digital currency exchange anywhere in the world.

Blockbid’s beta launch is set to go live April 16. Since security, said the press release, is of utmost importance, and the developers are committed to making sure users get the best possible experience, the beta will run as follows:

• The MVP beta launch will commence with a set number of users, who at first will test the platform without trading real currency. Serving as a testing session, this phase will last until Blockbid developers and userbase are finally content with delivery.
• Then, the platform will be tested more, and Blockbid will apply patches and carry out the subsequent phase of design and user interaction, based on user feedback.
• After systematic and detailed testing throughout the above two phases, stage one of the beta launch will open to general public, at first with leading cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, with digital currencies being bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin gold (BCG), bitcoin cash (BCH), ripple (XRP) and litecoin (LTC) and fiats being USD, Euro, JPY and AUD.
• Finally, further digital currencies will be introduced for the second phase of the beta launch. They include ethereum (ETH), NEM (XEM), dash (DASH), nano (NANO), DNotes (NOTE), bytecoin (BCN), fincoin (FTB), nexus (NXS), cajutel (CAJ), iconomi (ICN), ASTRcoin (ASTR), jetcoin (JET), trezarcoin (TZC), lanaCoin (LANA), unify (UNIFY), I/O Coin (IOC), tajCoin (TAJ), fujicoin (FJC), NETKO (NETKO), bitether (BTR), unitus (UIS), digibyte (DGB) and Decision Token (HST).

Blockbid COO David Sapper said in the release we received, “Inline with Blockbid’s vision since launching in August, we are proud to announce that we are fully registered and approved with Australia’s regulatory financial oversight body AUSTRAC to operate as a digital currency exchange. Since its inception Blockbid has always wanted to put customers security and peace of mind at the forefront of building a one-for-all platform, allowing our users to trade with confidence. As a registered digital currency exchange in Australia we are looking forward to opening up our doors worldwide to all traders and investors who want to use a platform that is legitimate and provides asset insurance as well. This is a big step not only for the Australian cryptocurrency space but also for our company as it means that our vision to allow you to trade with confidence has been acknowledged by the Australian government under AML/CTF guidelines.”

Blockbid’s full-scale launch will take place in 2019.

Image via press release