On January 12th 2009, Bitcoin was launched as the world’s first genuine electronic cash, built for the purpose of creating a digital exchange medium away from government or institutional control.
Since this date, Bitcoin has played the role of being the world’s first true universal currency, acting as the mothership for all the other various forms of digital currencies that have spawned since Bitcoin’s creation in 2009.
Bitcoin and her fellow cryptocurrencies share a similar vision of revolutionising payments worldwide, by the means of significantly increasing transaction speeds and reducing or even completely excluding transaction fees. Bitcoin can be sent across country borders in minutes, without the interference or oversight of any central authority or bank.
For this reason, crypto has garnered a considerable amount of attention over the last 2 years. Partly due to the immense media attention, Bitcoin’s price multiplied by 19 over 2017, only to be followed by 2018’s infamous year of market recovery.
As a result of the fact that only 21 million Bitcoin can and will ever exist, in combination with its utility as a borderless currency, investors from around the world are purchasing their own digital currencies to sit for the long run. Investors are hoping that when crypto reaches mainstream adoption, the value of their assets with shoot through the roof substantially.
Bitcoin had created a global digital goldrush, and it came as no surprise to anyone that the Kiwis and Aussies were keen to get involved.
Bitcoin adoption in New Zealand Vs Australia
In January 2018, HiveEx surveyed a random population of 2,000 Australians and found that 5% of them owned cryptocurrency. In August 2018, the same study was conducted, and it was revealed that the number had jumped to 13.5%.
In New Zealand, It is estimated that only 1% or less of the current population own their own cryptocurrency, however, like Australia, there is very limited qualitative and quantitative research on crypto adoption rates.
Localbitcoins.com, a peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform, reported that in January of 2019, the average daily bitcoin trade volume in New Zealand was just shy of $169,900 USD per week, whereas Australia had an average weekly trading volume of just over $531,839 USD.
New Zealanders and Australians are buying and holding cryptocurrency for a multitude of good reasons, and you can learn more about why they do here.
How easy is it to buy; New Zealand vs Australia
Trading cryptocurrency has never been easier. In New Zealand, you have several options including Bitprime, Dasset, and Easy Crypto, however, Easy Crypto NZ tends to have the most competitive rates, the most easily navigable interface, the fastest processing and sign up speeds, as well as the most user-friendly information for beginners.
We would recommend using Easy Crypto for NZ for all your cryptocurrency needs – you can go straight to their website by clicking here.
Easy Crypto, within the last month, has now expanded to Australia too. Easy Crypto Australia will have the same rates, the same beginner-friendly information and the same ease of use and the New Zealand branch. Before Easy Crypto’s expansion to the Australian market, your options for trading were with Independent Reserve, CoinSpot, ACX, and Bitcoin Australia.
We would recommend using Easy Crypto AUS to meet your trading needs too – you can also visit their website by clicking here.
Crypto hacks; New Zealand vs Australia
Similar to other nations that have a blossoming crypto industry, New Zealand and Australia are also susceptible to nefarious hacks. Since the emergence of crypto in 2008, Australasia has experienced significant exchange breaches, resulting in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
This has been due to the exploitation of flaws in an exchange’s or central server’s database, however its vital to understand that it’s impossible to directly hack the infrastructure of a cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, it’s possible that the security of a central server can be violated, resulting in the theft of personal information.
These events are rare, but occasionally do happen. The recently well-publicized Cryptopia hack is not the only instance of this happening in New Zealand. Bitcoinica suffered multiple attacks in 2012, resulting in over sixty thousand Bitcoins being stolen.
Another NZ based exchange, BitNZ also lost 39 Bitcoins to hackers in 2014. Over in Australia, independent exchanges haven’t been affected to the same extent, but it has been reported that last year, government websites were hacked to mine both Bitcoin and Monero.
In conclusion, both Australia and New Zealand are making great strides in crypto adoption and development, considering that this movement is in its very early days. If you would like to learn more about cryptocurrency and the technology behind it, as well as why people buy it in the first place, click here.
If you would like to become an early adopter and invest in digital assets like Bitcoin now, click here if you are in New Zealand, and click here if you are in Australia.
