Australian online broker to add cryptocurrency trading

Listed on ASX, the Australian online broker SelfWealth announced the addition to its platform of the ability to buy and sell digital assets.

According to SelfWealth CEO Kat Whitaker, the platform, the first in Australia, will offer the ability to trade both stocks and cryptocurrencies in one place.

The company serves 95,000 active clients and is in talks with bitcoin exchanges to implement this initiative. The total value of securities held on SelfWealth totals A$5.9 billion (about US$4.4 billion), according to Australian Financial Review.

The company plans to add ten cryptocurrencies by year-end, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. They will be stored in a partner-integrated wallet connected to the platform. Fees for executing trades have not been disclosed.

Surveys show that two-thirds of SelfWealth clients own or plan to acquire digital assets.

According to a Kraken exchange study in June, one in five Australians considered Bitcoin investments more profitable than traditional savings.

Earlier, Independent Reserve found that by the end of 2020 more than 90% of Australians had heard of at least one digital asset, with around 20% invested in cryptocurrencies.

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