There has been a five-fold rapid surge in the number of FinTech startups in Australia over the past 5 years and the sub-sectors encompassed have become more diverse, as per the reports of KPMG. Investment in the Australian FinTech sector has risen remarkably as the Australian FinTech ecosystem is becoming increasingly diverse.

Australian Government’s 2018-19 budget has allocated $530,000 for blockchain research under the Digital transformation Agency (DTA) program, this development was exclusively prompted by a specific request from the country’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.

For now, International Business Machines Corp (IBM), the IT and software magnate, has signed a five-year $740 million deal with the Australian government to deploy and optimally utilize blockchain and other new technologies with an objective of improvising data security. Thereby, Australian government seems to be keen on investing into the research for blockchain technology, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

Top notch officials of IBM have clarified the outlines of this movement after bagging this deal from the Australian government, David La Rose, the managing director of IBM Australia & New Zealand said “this agreement is a testament to our forty-year partnership with the Australian Government. It shows trust and belief in our ability to transform and provide world-leading capabilities, leveraging our investments locally in AI, blockchain, quantum and cloud.”

While IBM’s Asia Pacific head, Harriet Green, mentioned in the Bloomberg’s reporting that the latest joint-venture would assist commonwealth citizens by providing access to the “world’s greatest technologies” “across many, many government agencies.

World’s one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges by its daily trade volumes, Huobi also clarified that it launched trading on its new Australian platform, as Adrian Harrison, the new CEO of Huobi Australia says the exchange is “keen to partner with the growing numbers of Australian blockchain projects looking to list in a maturing market, Crypto-traders in Australia are increasingly knowledgeable and sophisticated.”

The exchange aids trading with ten pairs exchanged for the Australian dollar. These pairs are likely to include BTC, ETH, LTC, and BCH. Sources say that the strategic alliance with Huobi Australia represents the journey towards fostering the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, in Australia and around the world. Courtesy: Bloomberg, KPMG