Category Archives: Money

What “wallet” it say about you?

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Just as your e-mail domain name can say a lot about how/when you first got online, I have a theory that our choice of digital wallet will also reflect our blockchain, crypto and web3 profile. (Remember those early ISPs and e-mail services such as AOL, Lycos, Compuserve and Pacific Internet?)

Part of the challenge with early digital wallets was the UX/UI – before the advent of software, browser-based and hardware wallets, users relied on “paper wallets” to manage their private keys. The first software wallets needed to be set up very carefully, so that your seed phrase or private key was not stranded on an abandoned hard drive, and thus lost forever. I think the first BTC wallet I used was CoPay, which was an early multi-sig wallet, but which has largely been discontinued. The arrival of browser extensions such as MetaMask have made a difference when it comes to bridging between chains, and managing a wider range of assets.

Even though there is more interoperability between digital wallets (cross-chain, multi-asset), dedicated applications are still needed for BTC and other chains. Also, some use cases (iGaming, web3/DeFi) may demand more specific wallets to support particular functionality. But like many crypto users, I still maintain about 6 different applications, including exchange-based wallets.

I suppose the eventual user experience will be a seamless transition between crypto, web3, DeFi, TradFi, NFTs and RWAs. But until then, stay safe and make sure you know where your private keys are at all times!

Next week: Signing off for 2024….

 

 

False Economies – if it’s cheap, there must be a reason!

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When I was 7 or 8 years old, I asked my parents to buy me a specific brand of toy as a birthday or Christmas present. With the best of intentions, they chose instead a close approximation of the real thing – presumably because it was cheaper, and to them it was exactly the same. Of course, being cheaper, it was badly designed, poorly made, and was nothing like the toy I had asked for. From memory, it only lasted only a few months before falling apart.

This was my first lesson in false economies – cheap and cheerful can quickly become cheap and nasty, rather like some cheaper brands of peanut butter, which are bulked out with sugar, oils, fats and other additives (instead of containing 100% peanuts).

Many years ago I had some shirts made in Shenzhen, because they seemed like a bargain. Sadly, another false economy – after I got them home, I realised the cut was all wrong, and I’m sure they had substituted a cheaper fabric to the one I had chosen. They were unwearable. On the other hand, some jackets I had made in Hong Kong lasted nearly twenty years, because I had paid a bit more to go to an established tailor.

I’m not saying that more expensive branded goods and so-called luxury items are always “better” – but as a general rule, when doing like-for-like comparisons, you get what you pay for. When an item costs more to buy, it invariably lasts longer because of the materials used, the better design, the superior manufacturing and the overall higher quality.

I appreciate that in the current economic environment, consumers are even more cost conscious, and are looking for value for money, if not actual bargains. But just because something is cheap, doesn’t mean it’s the better option. Look at the true cost of fast fashion, fast food, fast money…

Next week: The Law of Diminishing Returns….

Banking Blues (pt. 481)

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Last week, I attended a networking evening for Intersekt, Australia’s largest annual fintech conference. Billed as the “flagship event of the Digital Innovation Futures Victoria Festival”, the 2-day event is supposed to take the pulse of Australian fintech – by highlighting current industry trends, showcasing local success stories and identifying areas for future growth and collaboration. I wasn’t able to attend the 2-day conference itself, but based on the networking audience, and the program agenda, it feels like there is very little “innovation” these days, and certainly not among the major banks.

The fintech product focus is still very much on payment solutions and open data – even though we’ve had the NPP and Open Banking for several years – plus SME lending (since the major banks have largely abandoned cashflow lending, just as they have exited wealth management and financial planning). There was barely an hour of the conference given over to crypto currencies and digital assets, and from what I could see, no sessions dedicated to Blockchain technology.

Challenger or neo-banks have not managed to gain traction in Australia, mainly due to the dominance of the incumbent banks, especially the so-called Big 4, which continue to enjoy an entrenched oligopoly protected by regulation. Despite Financial Services (banks, diversified financials and insurance) forming the largest sector (27%) of the ASX 200, it is highly concentrated and appears structurally designed to keep out competition (and hence, stifle innovation).

Indeed, I cannot think of a single new product that my bank has introduced in the 20 years I have been a customer. Over that time, I have held both personal and business accounts with this bank – mortgages, investment loans, credit cards, transaction accounts and savings products. They no longer offer wealth management services under their own name, and the share trading account I hold with them is actually operated by a foreign financial institution. At the same time, the bank has been shuttering branches, and disbanding services, often without any notice or customer communication.

My frustration with this bank goes unheeded – if anything, the customer service has worsened, often under the guise of “the Royal Commission”. The latter has no doubt given rise to staff cuts to pay for greater compliance costs, and is used to justify over-bureaucratic customer processes. Meanwhile, every time I raise a complaint, I’m told it’s the bank’s “systems” that are to blame, or their third-party service providers – it’s never the bank’s own fault, and they never take responsibility or demonstrate accountability.

These are just the latest incidents in a litany of poor customer experience:

1. A simple title transfer involved me visiting three different branches (thanks to branch closures and rotating staff), plus e-mailing and phoning an interstate office (at least the settlement was probably executed on Pexa’s blockchain-enabled platform…)

2. A glitch in setting up a replacement bank-issued credit card in my digital wallet was blamed on the card provider’s technology (even though I had just successfully linked this same card to my smart watch). I hope the bank has robust SLAs with this third party…

3. Some unsolicited (and highly misleading) e-mail marketing sent out under the bank’s name was blamed on another third-party provider (surely the bank must authorise what communications are issued in its name?)

4. I spent over 2 hours in a branch to open some basic term deposits in the name of existing businesses that already have client profiles and accounts with this same bank – a combination of bureaucracy, slow technology and cumbersome processes which still involve wet signatures on hard copy documents.

5. In the process of setting up one of these business accounts, it turns out the bank had the wrong company details on their core records, even though the statements are sent to the correct address. I advised the bank of the change of address several years ago, but despite the findings of the Royal Commission, the bank has not bothered to run a check on the ABN register, which is free to use, to check the company details.

The really depressing thought is that even if I switch banks, I will probably run into similar problems elsewhere!

Next week: Non-binary Politics?

Is crypto finally going mainstream?

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Just as my last blog on crypto regulation went to press, news broke that CBA (one of Australia’s “four pillar” banks) will be adding crypto assets to its mobile banking app. Add that to the launch of a crypto equities ETF by BetaShares, and further media coverage of local digital asset fund manager Apollo Capital, and you may start to believe that crypto is finally going mainstream in Australia.

But, before anyone gets too excited, a few caveats are in order.

First, the recent flurry of announcements from the Australian Senate, ASIC and AUSTRAC are simply the latest stages in a long-running debate about how crypto assets should be regulated, serviced and distributed. Despite these positive noises, there is still some way to go before crypto reaches critical mass (even though data for Australia shows we have one of the higher rates of market adoption).

Second, there is a lot of noise out there, and not all of it here in Australia. The SEC, FATF, ISDA, Cboe and SGX are just a few of the institutional voices making announcements on crypto and digital assets in recent weeks. On top of that, of course, there is the President of El Salvador (and the Mayor-Elect of New York) weighing in on behalf of the politicians. Some of this commentary is mere posturing; some is about being seen to be doing something; and a large part is just the legacy markets trying to catch up (and hoping to take control?).

Third, a closer look at CBA, BetaShares and Apollo Capital reveal some significant limitations in terms of what their products actually offer:

The CBA is planning to launch a trial among a small sample of their mobile banking users (although, no doubt, if things go well, it will be rolled out more extensively). But it does not mean the app becomes a fully-fledged crypto wallet: customers will only be able to buy/sell crypto within the app, and they won’t be able to send crypto to third parties. Plus, only a small set of crypto assets will be available.

The BetaShares ETF is not offering direct exposure to Bitcoin or other crypto assets. Instead, the fund is designed to invest in companies (mainly crypto exchanges, miners and technology providers) that are significant or strategic industry players. While that may mitigate the market volatility (and price fluctuation) that crypto experiences, it doesn’t necessarily make for higher returns.

The Apollo Capital fund is only available to wholesale or accredited investors – not retail customers. And while Apollo has done a reasonable job of growing its AUM, I don’t believe there are any major allocations from Industry Super Funds (which manage 27% of Australians’ retirement savings), Retail Funds (21%) or Public Sector Funds (18%). And despite anecdotal evidence that Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSF) are more active in crypto assets (along with Family Offices and HNWIs), recent data from the ATO suggests crypto assets held within SMSF are not much more than $200m.

Having worked in this industry since 2016, it’s always been apparent from an institutional perspective that few want to go first, but nobody wants to be last, when it comes to launching crypto products and services. Of the three Australian stories this week, the most significant is probably the CBA; it certainly got a lot of attention at the recent State of Play presentation by Blockchain Australia, in large part due to the industry implications, and how it will help bring crypto to an even wider audience.

Next week: Summing Up (and Signing Off)