Australia is one of the countries with a very active bitcoin community. People in Australia are more receptive towards bitcoin and they have started using it in their day-to-day transactions as well. Few platforms like Living Room of Satoshi have made it easier for Australians to pay their utility bills with bitcoins. The same platform now allows its users to deposit money into their bank accounts with bitcoins.
It is not just the individuals and cryptocurrency companies that are interested in bitcoin and other digital currencies. Even the “big four” conventional Australian banks are looking into the possibility of adopting bitcoin technology into their everyday operations. One of these big four – The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has already adopted Ripple network, which works similar to that of a bitcoin Blockchain to transfer money between branches. Westpac and ANZ have been experimenting with the Bitcoin technology.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Gains Interest of Financial Bigwigs
Westpac Banking Corp. has taken a step further to embrace bitcoin by investing in Coinbase through Reinventure Group, its venture capital fund. Coinbase is one of the prominent bitcoin companies in cryptocurrency space. Coinbase provides bitcoin wallet and exchange services to its customers. Being one of the top companies, it has also raised investments from multiple high-profile institutions and investment firms. The company has raised $75 million from various investors including New York Stock Exchange and Vikram Pandit – former CEO of Citigroup. Reinventure was also one among the group that invested in company
In an announcement made recently by Coinbase on its blog, the company has said that it will be working closely with Westpac through Reinventure and share insights into the global use of digital currencies.
As part of Coinbase’s Series C fundraising round, Reinventure has invested alongside Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Ribbit Capital, Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz to become the first group of financial institutions to back a bitcoin based venture.
Westpac will gain significant exposure to bitcoin through the Coinbase investment which will prove to be helpful in the process of incorporation of Bitcoin technology for its banking operations.
READ MORE: Coinbase Instant Exchange makes Instant Bitcoin Transfer Possible