While the majority of the banks have definitively refused to go anywhere near cryptocurrencies, Australia might as well see its very first digital currency bank sooner rather than later.
Popular investor Fred Schebesta, who became a millionaire at the age of 26 after selling his first business, revealed his next “multi-billion dollar” idea. According to News.com.au, the self-described “time traveler” is set to open the “first crypto bank of Australia.”
Interest in Bitcoin Has “Boomed”
Despite the fact that Bitcoin has marked a substantial decline in value since the start of 2018, Schebesta remains entirely optimistic. What is more, he holds that the interest in cryptocurrency is booming:
At its core, you’ve got to remember, just because the price of bitcoin has gone down and people feel angry, that doesn’t reduce the interest. […] The interest has boomed. I was at [crypto conference] Consensus in New York, there were 8000 people there. It took 30 minutes to get up the lift. New technologies are being built, it’s like going from Basic to DOS. Bitcoin’s like gold, it will just sit there and do its thing and keep on going, I don’t think it will die.
He doesn’t seem to be fazed by the decline in the price, either, and makes a quick historical comparison which outlines that Bitcoin (BTC) has experienced more serious corrections:
Remember, people said bitcoin was a bubble at $US10, a bubble at $US100, a bubble at $US1000. […] After it went to $US100 it went down to like $US12, that’s way lower than $US20,000 down to $US6000.
Problem, Meet Solution
According to the self-made millionaire, enthusiasts are aware of the benefits brought by decentralization but the masses have still some ways to go to get there. He outlines one of the major issues of the current centralized banking system:
You don’t have your money. The bank has your money. Have you ever gone to the bank and asked for all your money? If everyone did a bank run on CommBank [Commonwealth Bank of Australia] right now, they wouldn’t be able to service it.
And, respectively, he pinpoints the solution:
That’s why I’m so big on crypto. I think eventually people will go, ‘Oh my god, this is so messed up’, and they’ll move to where they can hold their value. Not all of their money, but some of it.
Long Way To Go?
Schebesta recently purchased a “significant” share in Goldfields Money – a bank in West Australian. According to the millionaire, this is the only bank in the region with an authorized deposit-taking institution license. He identifies this as a key step towards the creation of a legitimate cryptocurrency bank:
They’re a $35 million market cap, tiny business, but a bank, and the only bank with an ADI in Western Australia. […] As crypto adoption takes off and it becomes bigger and bigger, people are going to [need] certain services [like] custodianship, cold storage, escrow, exchange and spending.
Nevertheless, he also notes that lending will be a focal point for cryptocurrency. According to him, when “lending really cranks up in crypto, that’s the thing that will basically take this to a whole other level.”
What do you think of Schebesta’s plans to set up the first cryptocurrency bank in Australia? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!
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