Feels like it was just yesterday when Satoshi Nakamoto released his white paper on innovative technology that was going to be the base for the first ever decentralized currency, known as bitcoin, however recent popularity and demand is setting never seen before values on this cryptic asset. One of the biggest reasons behind recent bitcoin price surge and greater awareness is the enormous on-going media coverage that has helped to shift many different governments vision, from darker to lighter shade, on this spectacular digital currency. Japan is one of the latest countries that had started recognizing bitcoin as legal currency and Australia took notice. They have decided to take a complete 180 degree turn on their bitcoin view and instead of double taxing any sort of bitcoin transactions, have moved forward and pass a bill that will remove any taxation on bitcoin starting from first of July, 2017, instead.
Bitcoin Regulations in Australia
Australia was one of the countries that was focusing on making bitcoin hard-to-use but not with malicious intent but simply due to their fight against criminal activities and terrorism being funded through this anonymous digital currency. Luckily for the bitcoin community and benefits of mankind, Australian government in their recent plan on becoming worlds leading fintech hub, has realized that fight against terrorism should not be happening at the cost of innovation and progress of society. Currently any sorts of bitcoin transactions were effectively double taxed, making any sort of bitcoin investments or trades extremely costly. Recent bill, that was passed with the majority of votes, will ensure government protecting any sort of bitcoin businesses and traders. This law will protect these type of businesses from being denied any banking services from the local financial sector. The biggest change is that bitcoin trades and businesses will operate outside of aggressive tax regulations and will effectively be traded as any other asset while carrying no tax.
Bitcoin Exchanges in Australia
There are many different channels for Australian citizens to purchase or invest into some bitcoin and we would expect bigger trading volumes to start take place as soon as the new law will turn effective next month. Most of the largest bitcoin exchanges do offer their services to Australian region. Coinbase - One of the biggest digital currency exchanges that allows its customers to buy, sell and trade, two of the most popular digital assets, known as ether and bitcoin. Users enjoy fast and convenient options for any type of bitcoin trade that CB offers. Keep in mind that due to the federal anti-money laundering act that Coinbase operates under then they are not permitted to facilitate gambling transactions and therefore block services to the users doing that. GDAX - Another popular exchange that permits Australians to buy and sell bitcoin. Localbitcoins - Biggest peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform online and allows anyone to purchase or sell bitcoin for many alternative channels. LBC acts like escrow and none of the parties have to release the funds until agreed criteria have been met. Australia has seen recent surge of bitcoin ATM's and you can locate closest one to yourself by visiting CoinATMRadar.com
Online Gambling in Australia
Unfortunately for the online gamblers, another bill that Australian government has recently passed, happens to restrict online gambling providers to offer any services to the Australian citizens. As ironic as it sounds, one of the parliament members had voiced his opinion loudly towards this being a foolish move and if they should not change the regulation, then all that Australian gamblers need to do is get themselves an VPN and play on an offshore account. We would advise Australians to stick to the anonymous bitcoin casinos, out of which we have reviewed majority in order to help you to find the right one for you.