The third largest crypto exchange in the world by trade volume, Huobi, has confirmed trading has commenced on its new Antipodean platform as of July 5.
A company announcement stated that trading would be available from 10am to 5pm Sydney time with 10 pairs including the top cryptos – BTC, ETH, BCH and LTC – in Australian dollars.
Also included are six other fiat to altcoin pairs; Ethereum Classic (ETC), Power Ledger (POWR), Aelf (ELF), Cortex (CTXC), Data (DTA) and IOST.
Huobi now handles a billion dollars a day in trade volume, so the listing of some of these obscure altcoins is likely to give them a boost. The exchange says that “in the future, Huobi Australia will open more trading pairs to all users.”
Adrian Harrison, the new CEO of Huobi Australia, said they are “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.”
Huobi plans to nurture blockchain expansion in Australia via its investment subsidiary Huobi Capital and its US$200 million Global Ecosystem Fund. To keep up with its rivals Binance and OKEx, Huobi has been aggressively expanding internationally from its headquarters in Singapore to offices in Canada and Brazil.
The exchange also opened its London office last month and says it will be offering over-the-counter (OTC) trading trials by Q3 this year.
In addition to Huobi, IBM has also been looking for blockchain business down under and has sealed a $740 million data security agreement with the Australian government. The five-year deal will enable the tech giant to deploy and utilize blockchain and other new technologies, with the objective of enhancing cyber security.
Managing director of IBM Australia & New Zealand David La Rose said: “This agreement is a testament to our 40-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. We look forward to helping the Australian government to re-define the digital experience for the benefit of all Australians.”
The deal comes after IBM agreed to pay more than A$30 million ($US20 million) in compensation to the Australian government for its role in the bungled 2016 national census survey. The project was plagued by four “distributed denial of service” attacks that temporarily shut down the census. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at the time that “overwhelmingly the failure was IBM’s.”
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