Bitcoin Forum

If you are frustrated with MtGox or looking for an open market for trading Bitcoin/Litecoin in Australia, please continue reading:

There is a new startup based in Sydney (Crows Nest) who has just launched the first trading/exchange platform in Australia named BTC Markets  www.btcmarkets.net

At BTC Markets our objective is very simple. We're aiming to significantly reduce the cost and time spent dealing with MtGox by providing a more cost effective and efficient trading/exchange platform within Australia.

We believe this has been achieved by providing fast and free deposits/withdrawals, flexible trading fees particularly for Bitcoin traders, quick signup and profile verification, and more importantly convenience of dealing with a local company.

The exchange platform works like Australian Stock Exchange where it maintains an order book of bids/asks so ultimately the price is determined by buyers and sellers (as it should be) and their perceived value of the digital currency.


If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us. 

Best Regards,
Support team at BTC Markets

Checked out the site. Looks pretty mint!

Are you going to offer other currencies?

We are in the process of setting up a USD trust account with our Bank (ANZ) and are planning to add it to the platform soon. Please stay in touch for further updates.

If you "believe in taking advantage of regulatory compliance", how come I can't seem to find you in the AFS Licensee Register? ???

I will surf over to your site to have a look.

Please add GoldCoin (but make sure you buy a bucket load of GoldCoins first, so you take part in the increases that are coming.)

Thanks Foxpup for your comment about the regulation.

Please note that at this stage ASIC does not regulate Bitcoin trading companies (e.g. issuing financial license) yet so if and when this becomes available we will be the first to apply for such a regulation. We believe that ultimately the growth of Bitcoin will only be achieved through partnership with the government.
 
The position of Austrac is the same and they have not yet recognized Bitcoin, however BTC Markets maintains compatibility with existing Austrac policies about Anti-Money Laundering (AML) by requesting users to go through id verification process before withdrawing for the first time.

In order to automate the id verification process and make it almost real-time we work with a leading organization in id verification called Edentiti Pty Ltd.
 
Edentiti offers on online service called greenID and has been approved by Australian government as a gateway for id verification system (called DVS) which can be used by any businesses across Australia.

Hope this helps.

ASIC does, however, regulate "custodial or depository services". If you're holding AUD deposits on behalf of your clients for withdrawal at a later date, you need an AFS licence.

Please note that all AUD deposits are kept in a Trust Account with ANZ bank and this should provide enough protection for all fiat currency deposits made by users.

As for detail explanation of why no AFS license is available at this stage for trading digital currencies (e.g. Bitcoin), I will check with our legal department and will update this post later on.

Thanks.

Awesome work guys! Will do my best to support another Australian business :)

Alright, it seems your loophole is narrow, but acceptable. Probably.