Crypto City guide to Sydney: More than just a ‘token’ bridge

Fast facts

City: Sydney
Country: Australia
Population: 5.2 million
Established: 1788

Sydney is Australia’s first, oldest and second-most populous metropolis (just), world-famous for its harbor views and iconic landmarks, specified arsenic the Opera House and Harbor Bridge — affectionately nicknamed “The Coathanger” by locals. The Harbor City’s second-most notable diagnostic is 100 beaches crossed the metropolitan country with Bondi Beach the champion known.

Sydney has 1 of the world’s largest earthy harbors. (Pexels)

Located connected Australia’s eastbound coast, Sydney was established arsenic a penal colony for the British Empire, which needed determination to transport criminals aft losing power of its colonies successful the American Revolution. It’s astir apt nary astonishment past it earned the moniker “Sin City” successful the 2nd fractional of the 20th period owed to rampant organized transgression that corrupted judges, the apical brass of the constabulary and, possibly little surprisingly, politicians.

On a planetary scale, Sydney is reasonably young and architecturally contemporary, which saw it play backdrop to The Matrix, arsenic a large determination successful Mission Impossible 2 and a starring relation successful the crippled of Finding Nemo (no, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney doesn’t exist). Sydney is Australia’s fiscal hub, has the 3rd largest migrant colonisation globally, and boasts the 2nd astir unaffordable lodging successful the satellite down Hong Kong.

Sydney’s crypto culture

Sydney saw an aboriginal involvement successful cryptocurrencies that inactive carries connected today. Blockchain Sydney has been consistently getting unneurotic since 2013, and it presently meets doubly a period astatine assorted pubs astir the city. Blockchain Professionals, formed successful 2014, besides inactive meets up astir erstwhile a month.

The Australian DeFi Association, portion lone launching successful aboriginal 2022, has go a highly attended and accordant monthly hangout for section crypto manufacture players and enthusiasts.

Co-founder Mark Monfort primitively created it for online discussions but says it soon morphed into an IRL meetup held betwixt the larger “one-off” blockchain events, specified arsenic those by Blockchain Australia.

“We wanted to beryllium the ‘gap filler’ betwixt different meetups due to the fact that what we saw was that determination wasn’t truly a spot for nonstop speech isolated from Crypto Twitter.”

Sydney has implicit 30 nationalist transit ferries serving 38 wharves making it 1 of the largest networks successful the world. (Wikimedia)

Monfort maintains a calendar of Web3 events and meetups going connected astir Sydney and Australia. Other fashionable meetups see Bitcoin Sydney, Hyperledger Sydney and Sydney AI Web3 (which added artificial quality successful enactment with the recent AI boom), portion NFT Sydney and Metaverse Sydney typically don’t conscionable arsenic often.

As the country’s fiscal hub, Sydney boasts a thriving startup culture. Many crypto-related events are held successful the assorted co-working offices astir the metropolis that besides service arsenic a basal for galore crypto and fintech startups. One provider, Stone & Chalk, runs a Web3 Innovation Centre wrong the government-supported Sydney Startup Hub, and section speech Independent Reserve has tally a blockchain concern accelerator since 2018.

Blockchain Week, the flagship lawsuit of Blockchain Australia, invariably holds astatine slightest 1 time of the programme successful Sydney, typically astatine the Exchange Centre — the location of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

Sydney’s crypto projects and companies 

Sydney’s crypto players are diverse, and there’s apt a institution progressive successful each niche of the market. “There’s a batch of innovation that’s coming retired of this municipality — overmuch much than you spot connected a planetary stage,” says Monfort, who besides is simply a co-founder of the Web3 advisory steadfast NotCentralised.

NFT equine racing and betting crippled Zed Run was created present by Virtually Human Studios (before it moved to Melbourne) and truthful was Find Satoshi Labs’ move-to-earn app StepN. Fellow NFT gaming companies Illuvium and Immutable are besides successful Sydney (as overmuch arsenic a decentralized enactment tin be). Sigma Prime, is down Lighthouse, the wide adopted Ethereum client.

Compared to Melbourne, determination aren’t arsenic galore exchanges oregon trading platforms based successful the city. Sydney plays big to important parts of the Ethereum-based token trading level Synthetix, the DeFi-backed fintech Block Earner is based here on with the centralized exchanges Independent Reserve and CryptoSpend.

The Redbelly Network operates the blockchain of the aforesaid name, which was primitively birthed astatine Sydney University alongside authorities researchers. Smart Token Labs, creator of the open-source wallet AlphaWallet and crypto wallet creator Verida, some person their HQs successful Sydney.

The metropolis besides hosts Block8, which helps make blockchain products, Soulbound token improvement and advisory concern Soulbis, Filecoin-powered information retention supplier Holon, along with the Tide Foundation, which offers a cybersecurity solution that’s based connected blockchain.

Comparison tract Finder operates a crypto exchange, and its founder, Fred Schebesta, dabbles with his blockchain concern money Hive Empire, besides Finder’s holding company. Schebesta owns the Crypto Castle successful Coogee, which helium bought for $11.5 cardinal (17 cardinal AUD) successful May 2021 — it’s rented retired for photoshoots and events and listed connected Airbnb for an exorbitant nightly price.

Crypto Castle highlights that wealth and sensation are 2 precise antithetic things. (Airbnb)

Venture steadfast Airtree VC has partnered with its stock of Web3 firms and is based successful the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, portion the Web3 recruitment concern CryptoRecruit is retired successful Bondi. Web3 information level Itheum made a location successful Sydney. Stirling & Rose and Piper Alderman some person specializer crypto lawyers.

Sydney’s fiscal infrastructure

Sydney was location to Australia’s first-ever Bitcoin ATM, which went live wrong a promenade successful the metropolis halfway connected April 15, 2014. The ATM was purchased from RoboCoin, the steadfast liable for mounting up the world’s archetypal Bitcoin ATM successful Canada astir six months earlier. Sydney’s ATM was the 11th from RoboCoin to motorboat worldwide.

Today, implicit 100 Bitcoin ATMs, astir a 4th of the astir 500 successful Australia, are dotted astir the cardinal concern territory and outer suburbs of Sydney according to Coin ATM Radar and are operated by a fistful of companies. Users tin lone merchantability crypto astatine 14 of them, however, and those are predominantly based successful the metropolis center.

Sydneysiders, similar each Australians, person entree to aggregate section exchanges arsenic good arsenic planetary ones with section entities successful the country. A fistful — namely CoinJar, Crypto.com, CoinSpot, Wirex and CryptoSpend — supply debit cards, offering crypto “cashback” oregon allowing crypto to beryllium spent directly.

Crypto isn’t wide utilized for payments oregon sending funds. Sending smaller monetary amounts done TradFi rails successful Australia is typically instant and free, operates 24/7, and lone needs a telephone fig oregon email acknowledgment to the New Payments Platform, which everyone conscionable calls PayID. The Australian cardinal slope politician Philip Lowe has adjacent said successful the past he’s “skeptical” connected the request to contented a retail cardinal slope integer currency: “How could we connection integer tokens which would beryllium amended than that?”

The narration betwixt crypto companies and banking oregon outgo providers is inactive tenuous. In May 2023, Binance Australia’s payments supplier Zepto was forced to offboard the speech by its payments enablement spouse Cuscal.

Westpac, 1 of the country’s “Big Four” banks, besides began blocking payments to crypto exchanges connected the aforesaid time Binance was debanked. Shortly after, the Sydney-based Commonwealth Bank (Australia’s largest bank) said it would begin declining oregon temporarily holding payments to crypto exchanges and enforce a $10,000 monthly headdress connected the magnitude of wealth its customers could nonstop to exchanges.

The banks vaguely cited issues with scams erstwhile asked to explicate their respective actions.

CBA liked crypto a batch better, somewhat coincidentally, astir the all-time high. (CBA)

Where tin I walk crypto?

There are lone a fistful of places successful Sydney near wherever you tin walk crypto. Coinmap claims determination are astir 25 venues that instrumentality integer currency payments adjacent the city, which get adjacent much sparse erstwhile traveling to the outer suburbs (in full determination are astir 40).

The bulk of venues appearing connected Coinmap person unopen down, and of those inactive standing, galore nary longer instrumentality crypto payments. A deficiency of uptake by customers was the statement for getting escaped of crypto payments arsenic explained by aggregate venue owners.

Takeaway only. The Bitcoin Rocket Cafe is tiny — sandwiched betwixt a station bureau and a bank. (Facebook)

Of those inactive astir that judge crypto, you tin drawback a brew astatine Cat and Cow Coffee successful Clovelly. The aptly named Bitcoin Rocket Cafe successful Redfern takes Bitcoin implicit the Lightning Network for its coffees and Bánh mìs. The cafe’s owner, Samantha Ho, said she charges a higher interest for those spending nether $13 (20 AUD) erstwhile paying by Lightning and estimated astir 5 successful 100 customers really wage utilizing Bitcoin.

There are a assortment of stores that judge crypto erstwhile ordering online. You tin bid a caller skateboard from Boardworld, which has shops successful the interior westbound suburbs of Newtown and St Peters. Retro Girl volition judge Bitcoin for their vintage wares, oregon you tin drawback immoderate (very expensive) lingerie astatine Babylikestopony, which besides has a store successful Paddington.

Under the span is Bar Lulu, which operates CryptoLulu, an NFT-gated rank nine that claims to connection backstage lounges, networking events and different benefits astatine the venue for NFT holders. While you tin of people wage for the NFT rank utilizing crypto, the barroom itself doesn’t instrumentality crypto payments right, present but that’s seemingly coming soon.

Controversies and collapses

For galore years, determination was overmuch excitement astir the ASX implementing a blockchain-backed solution for its clearing and settlements system. It archetypal announced the plans successful 2017, but it suffered aggregate delays. Five years connected and $170 cardinal later, the ASX canned the task successful precocious 2022 to overmuch scorn from the cardinal slope and the securities regulator.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has undertaken its stock of enforcement actions successful the crypto abstraction against Sydney businesses. It sued Block Earner successful November 2022, claiming the second offered crypto-based output products without a license. ASIC deed examination website Finder with a akin suit a period later, and the regulator claims Finder unopen down its crypto-yielding products a period earlier due to the fact that of its concerns.

In April 2022 aft a “targeted review,” ASIC canceled the fiscal licence of Binance Australia Derivatives (Oztures Trading), the futures concern of the exchange. ASIC besides claims it was sniffing out the Sydney-headquartered Australian entity for FTX months earlier the planetary institution collapsed successful November 2022. FTX Australia was capable to summation a section fiscal licence by taking over a institution that already had one, a loophole that ASIC seat Joe Longo wants to close.

Holon was likewise whacked by ASIC successful October 2022, which enactment a halt to crypto ETFs investing successful Bitcoin, Ether and Filecoin. Holon later bailed connected the thought altogether.

In precocious 2020, ASIC besides unleashed a raft of charges against John Biggaton, a promotor of the infamous BitConnect Ponzi scheme. Conspiracy theories astir Biggaton person been spun up aft his wife, Madeline Bigatton, mysteriously disappeared successful March 2018. She was suspected to person committed termination astatine The Gap, a determination infamous for specified acts, but it’s a communicative that her household doubts.

Sydneysider Kathryn Nguyen is wide believed to beryllium the archetypal idiosyncratic charged with the theft of crypto assets successful Australia. She was sentenced to two years successful jail aft stealing astir 100,000 XRP successful January 2018. The alleged Sydney-based Ponzi strategy Metafi Yielders is said to person stolen $135 million, but aft it collapsed, the main enforcement of the business, Michael Daher, claimed helium was conscionable a autumn guy, and the existent schemers were successful Nigeria.

The Commonwealth Bank has seemingly done a 180 connected its crypto stance successful a comparatively abbreviated time. In November 2021, it was gearing up to vessel crypto trading wrong its banking app. At the time, its CEO, Matt Comyn, said the bank saw “bigger risks successful not participating” successful crypto and, successful May 2022, was inactive seemingly trying to squeeze the merchandise past regulators. But conscionable implicit a twelvemonth and a fractional later, the slope began censoring payments to crypto exchanges.

The arguable Satoshi claimant Craig Wright utilized to unrecorded successful Sydney, and his location was notoriously raided by national constabulary successful 2015 owed to a warrant issued by the taxation authorities, but helium present lives successful the United Kingdom.

Crypto acquisition successful Sydney

A fewer higher-ed institutions connection courses oregon units of survey connected blockchain and Web3. Sydney’s archetypal university, the University of Sydney, offers a unit connected “Cryptocurrency Markets and Investments.” It besides does a course connected blockchains and cryptography arsenic portion of its Master of Cybersecurity. 

Sydney Uni on with the CSIRO (a national authorities technological probe agency) developed the Redbelly blockchain, which aimed to make a “fork-proof” network. The task was spun retired of the uni into its ain commercialized entity successful December 2021.

The University of Sydney. (Wikipedia)

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) offers a escaped two-hour online course connected the basics of blockchain tech, portion the University of New South Wales (UNSW) offers postgraduate and undergraduate courses connected “Web3 and Blockchain Applications.” UNSW’s course connected cryptocurrency and DeFi is simply a halfway people arsenic portion of its postgraduate large successful fintech.

For those consenting to wage $235 (350 AUD) to beryllium successful a schoolroom for 9 hours to larn the basics of crypto, blockchain and however to trade, past the Sydney Community College has a course aimed astatine introducing you to crypto and blockchain — though this carries nary accreditations similar the others.

UNSW and Sydney Uni person a student-led nine that semi-regularly hosts events and meetups called the University Network for Cryptocurrency and Blockchain.

In May 2022, UNSW received $4 million worthy of USDC from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for the improvement of a pandemic-detection tool.

Kain Warwick is 1 of Sydney’s astir notable crypto figures. (Cointelegraph)

Notable figures

Synthetix laminitis Kain Warwick; Illuvium co-founders (and Kain’s brothers) Aaron and Kieran Warwick; Finder co-founder and Crypto Castle proprietor Fred Schebesta; Block Earner co-founder Charlie Karaboga; Australian DeFi Association co-founders Mark Monfort and Arturo Rodriguez; Kraken Australia managing director Jonathon Miller; Web3 blogger Joan Westenberg; KPMG manager of metaverse Alyse Sue; StepN creator ​​Jerry Huang; Algorand Foundation governance manager Adriana Belotti; Haymarket HQ CEO Duco Van Breeman; Immutable co-founders Robbie and James Ferguson, Independent Reserve co-founder Adrian Przelozny ; Virtually Human co-founder and Zed Run creator Chris Laurent; Global X ETFs AU CEO Evan Metcalf; Block8 co-founders Kim Bartlett, Alan Burt and Tim Bass; CryptoRecruit laminitis Neil Dundon; Koinly caput of taxation Danny Talwar; Coinbase APAC managing manager John O’Loghlen; Arkon Energy co-founder and CEO Joshua Payne; Smart Token Labs co-founder and CEO Victor Zhang; Holon co-founder Heath Behncke; Crypto lawyers Nick Abrahams and Michael Bacina (the second is besides the Blockchain Australia chairperson), Ethereum Smart Contract developer and assemblage pedagogue Bokky Poobah.

Cointelegraph squad members and contributors based successful Sydney: Felix Ng, Brayden Lindrea, Ciaran Lyons and Jesse Coghlan.

If you person suggestions for additions to this guide, delight email: [email protected].