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BLOCKCHAIN NEWS AUSTRALIA

We update you on the latest blockchain news and developments
in Australia and worldwide. Powering the new tech industry.





THE AUSTRALIAN BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION



Blockchain technology is currently revolutionizing industries across the world.
The Australian blockchain industry is one of the fastest-moving environments in
which new blockchain-based startups are emerging, with established organizations
adopting blockchain technology and integrating it into existing systems.

The Australian government is now investing heavily in the blockchain sector,
awarding federal government grants to promising blockchain startups. The
newly-established Home Affairs super-ministry is currently investigating how
blockchain technology could potentially be integrated into the Australian
international trade ecosystem.

Australia is also leading the way in cryptocurrency regulation. Cryptocurrency
crowdfunding licenses are now being approved by ASIC, who have officially
recognized that initial coin offerings have “the potential to make an important
contribution to the options available to businesses to raise funds and to
investment options available to investors.”

With a clear regulatory framework to work within and a proactive regulatory
approach to innovation within the financial and tech sectors, Australian
blockchain startups are establishing a vanguard on the bleeding edge of
distributed ledger technology.

Visit Crypto News Australia to find the latest Blockchain & Crypto news from
Australia and worldwide.


BLOCKCHAIN USE CASES IN AUSTRALIA



The CSIRO may be calling for increased adoption and implementation, but some of
Australia’s largest organizations are already leveraging the power of blockchain
technology to optimize existing systems. We’ll proceed to take a look at some of
the most interesting ways in which distributed ledger tech is transforming the
Australian technological landscape.



The Australian Securities Exchange has recently announced that it will become
the first global market to integrate blockchain technology. In December 2017,
the ASX stated that the aging CHESS clearing house solution, which is now more
than 25 years old, will be replaced by a solution developed by US-based
blockchain start-up Digital Asset Holdings.

The new DLT system has been in active development since January 2016, and will
deliver greater market efficiency by streamlining record keeping, minimizing
reconciliation, and delivering more timely transactions. ASX also expects data
management to be greatly improved by the integration of blockchain technology.

Dominic Stevens, the Chief Executive of the ASX, has stated that the new DLT
system will “put Australia at the forefront of innovation in financial markets”.
The new solution uses a private blockchain and will launch with a consultation
exercise in the second quarter of 2018.

Blythe Masters, the chief executive of Digital Asset Holdings, has commented on
the impending DLT CHESS replacement launch:

“After so much hype surrounding distributed ledger technology, today’s
announcement delivers the first meaningful proof that the technology can live up
to its potential,”

There has been some pushback from brokers and other network participants, who
have called for the ASX to release an analysis of how the new DLT system will
increase efficiency and lower fees. In response, the ASX has formed six working
groups in order to address concerns presented by brokers.


WEBJET AND MICROSOFT ARE BUILDING A BLOCKCHAIN-BASED TRAVEL BOOKINGS SYSTEM



Australia-based travel booking website Webjet has recently announced the
impending launch of an industry blockchain solution developed in partnership
with Microsoft. Webjet books more than 750,000 rooms internationally every year,
with more than 10% of these bookings experiencing interruptions which, along
with other factors, leads to 4% of bookings never finalizing payment.

John Guscic, the managing director of Webjet, has stated that the new blockchain
solution is designed to ensure that the intermediaries between consumers and
hotels are paid for participating in the booking process. The reconciliation
process for these participants can also take up to three months, an issue that
the new blockchain platform aims to solve.

Eric Maino, a Microsoft senior software development engineer speaking at the
Construct 2017 announcement, explained Webjet’s desire for a standardized method
of communication in the industry:

“Webjet wanted to see, instead of everyone running their own proprietary
systems, a system that connects companies they own. They’ve been running their
real data through it and they’ve been finding interest discrepancies in the
business, and they’re hoping to expand it out.”

Webjet’s resulting proof-of-concept is a blockchain that utilizes a smart
contract established on the Ethereum blockchain. This app allows all of the
participants involved in the booking process to instantly determine whether
obligations have been fulfilled.


HSBC AUSTRALIA PARTNERS WITH FINTECH BLOCKCHAIN STARTUP MONEYCATCHA



HSBC Australia has recently demonstrated the speed and efficiency that
blockchain is able to bring to the finance sector by partnering with
Moneycatcha, a Sydney-based distributed ledger technology startup. HSBC and
Moneycatcha have trialled a project that assessed the startup’s home loan
processing platform and regulatory compliance tools.

The pilot project focused on Homechain and Regchain, which are blockchain-based
solutions designed to deliver trusted data during the loan origination process.
The Homechain solution leverages the immutable nature of the blockchain to
establish a 14-step process for streamlined home loan approval, lowering loan
processing time from 42 days to just 5 days.

Moneycatcha’s Homechain platform is fully integrated with PEXA, which
facilitates the electronic financial settlement and registration of real estate.
Regchain integrates with the same technology, delivering real-time portfolio
monitoring in order to optimise risk management and compliance.

Ruth Hatherley, the Founder and CEO of Moneycatcha, has explained that the pilot
program was aimed primarily at demonstrating the capabilities of the startup’s
solution:

“Because our platforms touch major processes and spread across several divisions
of a financial institution, we encourage banks to engage with us initially on a
limited-scope, light-touch pilot. We prove the capabilities of the system and
the business case to change the way they do things. After this, we move into
phase 2 where we widen the scope and start talking about how things could work
in a full production environment.”


CANYA



Canya, based in Melbourne, is aiming to create a blockchain-based marketplace in
which individuals are able to market their services in a truly peer-to-peer
fashion. Created by John-Paul Thorbjornsen, Canya is an extremely simple
alternative to the current online freelancing paradigm.

Instead of forcing users to pay exorbitant fees or risk losing capital without
escrow, Canya operates on a smart contract system that eliminates the issue of
transferring fiat currency— the Canya platform operates on a native
cryptocurrency token.

“Canya Coin is a multi-platform token,” Thorbjornsen explains— ”One use is as a
consumptive use token that allows providers to access features in the app.
Second, it’s a rewards token to economically incentivise network effects
allowing growth to the platform, and third, it can be used as exchange— you can
essentially be paid in Canya Coin.”

Canya’s highly successful token crowdsale concluded in November, and the
platform is set to go live in March 2018.


DIGITALX



DigitalX is one of the only ASX-listed blockchain platforms in Australia, and is
based in both Perth and New York. Functioning as a technical services and
financial advisory firm, DigitalX assists initial coin offerings from
conceptualization to crowdsale as well as assisting with blockchain software
development.

The DigitalX platform is backed by more than $30 million AUD of traditional
venture capital, and works closely with highly successful blockchain projects
such as Bankera, AirPocket, and Etherparty. Blockchain Centre, a Melbourne-based
blockchain incubator, has recently partnered with DigitalX in order to foster
the growth of promising new Australian blockchain startups.  

Martin Davidson, the CEO of Blockchain Centre, has commented on the recent
partnership:

“As true advocates of the power of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies,
DigitalX will enable our growing ecosystem to access a wealth of knowledge,
guidance, and expertise not seen anywhere else in Australia and in the world.”


THE FUTURE OF BLOCKCHAIN IN AUSTRALIA



For businesses, blockchain technology eliminates unnecessary third parties,
thereby reducing overheads and saving time. The Australian government is also
contemplating integrating more blockchain-based systems, stating that the
technology delivers “ reliable integration across government services, improved
mobility and business consistency across states and better regulatory
oversight.”

Overall, it’s clear that blockchain technology is here to stay. Australia is
firmly entrenched within the nascent blockchain industry, and has already proven
to be fertile ground for distributed ledger based technological innovation.


AUSTRALIA AS A GLOBAL LEADER IN BLOCKCHAIN



The inevitable impact of blockchain technology is impossible to ignore. A recent
World Economic Forum survey predicts that more than 10% of the world’s GDP will
be stored on blockchain technology within the next ten years, leading to an “an
explosion in tradable assets” and the development of new services and value
exchanges.

The CSIRO is not unaware of the potential of the blockchain, and released two
reports focused on distributed ledger technology in June 2017. Conducted by
Data61, the innovation arm of the research agency, the reports framed a shift in
stance from the Australian government.

Treasurer Scott Morrison released the following statement on the release:

“It will give decision makers in business and government guidance on matters
they need to consider in developing a system that uses blockchain technology.
The reports demonstrate the benefits of this technology could be profound –
delivering productivity, security and efficiency gains.”

The two reports— entitled “Distributed Ledgers: Scenarios for the Australian
economy over the coming decades” and “Risks and opportunities for systems using
blockchain and smart contracts” can be found here, and are intended to explore
plausible adoption scenarios as well as examine how blockchain systems can
support new markets.




ORIGIN ENERGY LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAIN POWER TRADING TRIAL



Origin Energy announced the launch of a blockchain-based power trading trial
system developed by Power Ledger in September 2017.. Developed in Perth, the
Power Ledger solution launched from a highly successful initial coin offering
that generated more than $34 million AUD in just three days.

The trial is currently underway at the White Gum Valley housing project in
Fremantle, Western Australia at the time of this report. The Power Ledger
solution uses blockchain technology to tokenize power and allow network
participants to freely trade power with one another in a decentralized fashion.

Tony Lucas, an Origin executive general manager working on the partnership,
released a statement regarding Origin’s stance on the future of blockchain in
Australia’s energy economy:

“While it’s still fairly early days for this technology, we are keen to explore
the potential benefits that peer-to-peer energy trading could offer our
customers. Power Ledger is one of a number of emerging technologies we’re
currently exploring, which we believe could help us meet the changing needs of
our customers.”

The trial is set to run until the end of 2018, and will use anonymized data
collected from the White Gum Valley project to assess the “regulatory and
technical implications” of the Power Ledger system. Should the trial prove
successful, the Power Leger/Origin partnership could potentially eliminate the
middleman for consumers that sell power back to the grid, allowing them to
either sell or share it autonomously.


CBH GROUP PARTNERS WITH AGRIDIGITAL TO OPTIMISE AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY CHAINS



The highly transparent nature of blockchain technology makes it ideal for
optimizing supply chain management. CBH Group, Australia’s largest grain
exporter, has recently succeeded in pilot project that leveraged
blockchain-based commodity management systems developed by AgriDigital.

Based in Sydney, AgriDigital is focused on supply chain traceability and
management in the agriculture industry. The trial project launched in August
2017, and assessed the viability of distributed ledger technology for handling
payment transfers, title matching, and product monitoring.

Emma Weston, the CEO and co-founder of AgriDigital, has stated that the project
is expected to launch as a commercial blockchain platform in 2019.

“Blockchain has enormous potential for all participants along the agri supply
chain. Creating digital title and matching it to payment in an atomic
transaction is significant for farmers and indeed all sellers – they retain
ownership over their asset up until the moment they receive payment from the
buyer, which eliminates counterparty risk.”

AgriDigital’s pilot project involved the creation of a token that represented a
digital title of ownership over a specific commodity. Each token, which
corresponded to a specific fiat currency value, was traded via atomic
transactions over a Quorum network based on the AgriDigital platform.

The Pilot Report released at the conclusion of the trial notes that the Raft
consensus mechanism used allows for extremely fast transaction times— delivering
four transactions per second which, according to AgriDigital, is “scalable to
process all transactions in the Australian grains industry on a blockchain.”


EMERGING AUSTRALIAN BLOCKCHAIN COMPANIES



While some of Australia’s largest organisations are busy running pilot projects
and optimizing existing systems with blockchain technology, there are many
blockchain startups that are building completely new, highly disruptive systems
independently.

We’ll proceed to take a look at some of Australia’s most promising blockchain
startups.


SHPING




Melbourne-based blockchain-based marketing and rewards platform Shping has
recently raised more than $3.7 million AUD in a token pre-sale, and is aiming to
establish itself as Australia’s most successful ICO.

The Shping platform, launched by Gennady Volchek, began as a startup called
AuthenticateIt, which intended to offer a barcode-based authenticity tracking
solution. After realizing that immutable and highly traceable blockchain tech
was ideal for the platform, however, Volcheck pivoted to distributed ledger
architecture and refocused on customer rewards and marketing as primary
services.

“While we were building the platform we realised that besides the consumer
safety and the brand protection the platform also enables the consumer to get
other product information… so we’ve built this global product database that not
only carries information and marketing information but also can utilise our
traceability data and provide users with the origin of where the ingredients
come from.”

Shping will provide consumers with a smartphone app that scans the barcode of a
product and delivers a dossier of ingredient information, such as origins, fact
sheets, and more. Users are rewarded with native crypto tokens for interacting
with a brand by watching advertisements or publishing reviews, which can then be
used in loyalty reward programs.


HORIZON STATE



Not every blockchain platform is focused on creating new markets or currencies.
Horizon State, based in Melbourne, wants to create the first truly transparent,
wholly trustworthy democratic system by moving the architecture that drives
electronic voting onto the blockchain.

Jamie Skella, the founder of Horizon State, states that his platform intends to
eliminate the potential of ballot box hacking or election disruption:

“What we’re working on will have a profoundly positive impact on the world by
creating an un-hackable ballot box, which will mean that we are taking steps
towards eradicating corruption in our electoral processes and our democracies,”

The Horizon State solution is already being used on the MiVote platform, which
focuses on providing transparent political information and representation for
all Australians.


TBSX3



Like AgriDigital, TBSx3 is focused on using blockchain technology to
decentralize and revolutionize the supply chain industry— although on a much
larger scale. The Australian blockchain startup aims to disrupt the shipping
industry with distributed ledger technology, using cryptographic certainty to
protect product identity.

TBSx3 also keeps a record of all shipping logistics on the blockchain in order
to prevent shipping anomalies. The functionality of the TBSx3 platform is
similar to Gennady Volchek’s original concept of AuthenticateIt, but uses a
mathematically-generated unique ID to ensure an item is genuine.

The startup has announced partnerships with shipping giant Hamburg Sud, tracking
service DB Schenker, and DP World Australia— the largest container port and
supply chain operator in Australia. In a recent press release, TBSx3 stated that
the consortium was the product of a pilot program:

“TBSx3 formed the consortium after the successful completion of one of the
largest blockchain trials to secure cargo across the global supply chain in May
2017″


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BLOCKCHAIN NEWS AUSTRALIA

We update you on the latest blockchain news and developments in Australia and
worldwide. Powering the new tech industry.

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