The crypto exchange giants Coinbase and OKX have reportedly been working on products designed to gain a foothold in Australia’s A$4.3 trillion ($2.8 trillion) retirement system.
Kate Cooper, chief executive of OKX Australia, tells Bloomberg that her exchange rolled out a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) in June.
-->OKX has witnessed more demand for the product than expected, Cooper adds.
SMSFs enable pensioners to choose the investments in their own super funds. John O’Loghlen, Coinbase’s Asia-Pacific managing director, tells Bloomberg that his exchange is also getting close to launching its own SMSF product.
“This product will be more for buy-and-hold investors rather than active traders.”
Fabian Bussoletti, technical manager at the SMSF Association, tells the news outlet that it makes sense that the exchanges are starting with SMSFs.
“Perhaps the larger funds will catch up over time.”
There was about A$1.7 billion worth of crypto holdings in Australian SMSFs as of March of this year, Bloomberg reports, a sevenfold increase compared to four years earlier.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission warns in a statement to the news outlet that digital assets are “highly volatile products and over-exposure can lead to substantial losses.”
An Australian Tax Office spokesperson tells Bloomberg that “the objective of superannuation is to preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement.”
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