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SelfWealth customers will soon be able to trade in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and other cryptos. The company, a non-bank online broker listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), plans to add crypto to its platform due to demand from its clients.
According to SelfWealth, more than two-thirds of its customers already hold or are planning to invest in cryptocurrencies, Financial Review reported. The company is now in talks with several crypto exchanges to add crypto trading functionality to its platform.
The online broker, one of the largest in Australia, has a customer base of around 95,000 active traders and self-managed investors. The SelfWealth platform holds around AUD$5.9 billion (US$4.4 billion) worth in securities.
SelfWealth plans to initially support 10 cryptos, which will include Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), on its platform by the end of the year. These digital currencies will be held in an integrated third-party crypto wallet. The company will charge a flat percentage fee for every crypto trade made by its clients, according to Cointelegraph.
SelfWealth’s future capability to allow customers to buy and sell both crypto and shares of local and U.S.-based firms would be an “Australian first,” according to CEO Cath Whitaker. Some platforms in the U.S. such as Robinhood already allow trading for both crypto and shares.
The crypto trading functionality would be a very convenient feature for investors that trade in both shares and digital currencies. At the moment, Australian investors would have to access multiple platforms to trade in different asset classes.
“Moving between popular investment types usually requires access to multiple trading platforms and for investors to move money multiple times,” Whitaker said.
SelfWealth uses ASX’s Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) to allow customers to trade in shares in both local and U.S.-based firms. However, there are also plans to replace the system with one based on distributed ledger technology. The move to a blockchain-based system is aimed at improving both transaction and settlement speeds.
