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Victorian Govt Joins Australia’s Digital Currency Association

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Samburaj Das
Last Updated

The government of the Australian state of Victoria has become a member of the Australian Digital Currency and Commerce Association (ADCCA ) in its foray to explore commercial blockchain applications.

Specifically, the government is now a part of Australia’s leading digital currency association through the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. With its membership, the Victorian government is looking to partner with the organization and its members to research the potential of blockchain technology in a number of sectors, according to a report by ComputerWorld  today.

Speaking to the publication, Victoria’s minister for small business, innovation and trade, Philip Dalidakis, revealed the government’s endeavor to understand and research the innovative, decentralized technology.

The membership, he said, was to:

[E]xplore the potential application and impact of blockchain across the economy, including but not limited to the financial services, health and food sectors.

The Victorian government has been keen on blockchain technology, having co-sponsored an Australian delegation that included bitcoin exchanges, blockchain startups to participate in Consensus 2017, a prominent industry event in New York.

Dalidakis also sees the new membership benefiting FinTech startups and innovation-driven entrepreneurs in the state, with the ADCCA’s ties to global digital currency and commerce associations, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore.

He added:

This [membership] will give our FinTech startups and entrepreneurs the best possible chance of succeeding.

Australia is home to a number of notable developments in the bitcoin and blockchain spaces. After the delayed promise of putting an end to the double taxation of transactions involving bitcoin, the Australian government finally made good on its word in this year’s federal budget.

In March this year, Standards Australia, the country’s national standards authority, revealed its roadmap to develop international blockchain standards after being tasked to do so by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

Notably, the Reserve Bank of Australia – the country’s central bank – revealed it had established an ‘internal working group’ to research and study the implications of blockchain technology.

The most notable example of a case of blockchain application in Australia is that of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), the operator of the country’s largest securities exchange. The ASX is testing blockchain technology developed by New York-based industry startup Digital Asset for its post-trade processing platform of clearing and settlement, as a part of its plan to replace its existing Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS).

Featured image from Shutterstock.