More Australians are investing in crypto than in gold and silver as per the new poll that we discuss today in our cryptocurrency news.

The survey of more than 2000 Australian investors found that cryptocurrency is a more popular investment than gold and silver but still has a long way to go before it nears the shares. The poll was conducted on behalf of the BTC markets in February and found that 12.6% of the Aussie investors hold BTC or other cryptocurrencies compared to the 12.1% who hold the metals. On the other hand, the stock market is a preferred option for investors with 63.6% holding shares directly and 28.8% investing in managed funds or exchange-traded funds. The property was also a great investment while 18% said they invested in collectibles.

Australian crypto investors favor ETH and BTC with 83.2% holding BTC and 42% holding ETH, followed by Ripple, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. The survey shows that about one-third of the crypto investors made their first investment after the COVID-19 induced market crash and the research was backed with a poll revealing that 39% of the respondents found BTC more appealing after the pandemic started.

Despite other cryptocurrencies rallying to a new high in the recent months, More Australians stated that they have no intention of selling their coins with a 31% of them planning to exit after about three years of holding. Of the 49% that are looking to sell or to take profits, one in five investors wants to reinvest. The biggest demographics of Aussie investors were aged between 25-34 following the ones aged between 35-44. Men accounted for 63% of all crypto investors and one in four earned about $100,000 per year.

BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler noted that older Australians are also investing in crypto with investors 60+ doubling in number in the past few years to make up to 10% of the client base:

 “In the last 12 months, we have seen a shift from 25-45-year-old males to a much broader age group, particularly early retirees who are interested in diversifying their investment portfolio and are catching up with this fastest-growing asset class.”

The research was in line with other polls like the one in December that found almost one in five Australian adults owned crypto last year.

Source: https://www.dcforecasts.com/bitcoin-news/more-australians-invest-in-crypto-than-in-gold-survey/

Bank of Korea chief executive says that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value while predicting that the high price fluctuations will remain so let’s see what more he had to say in our latest cryptocurrency news.

The head of the Bank of Korea Lee Ju-yeol said that BTC and other major cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value but he believes that all assets will continue experiencing major price fluctuations. The Bank of Korea chief executive said that Bitcoin as well as other crytpocurencies, don’t possess inherent value and blasted the volatile nature of the digital asset industry. He commented:

 “There is no intrinsic value in crypto assets.”

The news report quoted lawmakers asking BOK’s chief, whether the recent surge in the price of the coin is temporary:

 “It is very difficult to predict the price, but its price will be extremely volatile.”

The bank executive said that the recent rally in the BTC price followed by other digital assets could be led by multiple factors and among them, is Elon Musk who invested $1.5 billion. He also outlined that the latest price surge could be a continuation of the institutional investors using BTC as a hedge. Ju-yeol outlined that the bank should not purchase bonds issued by the country’s government directly because it will raise worries about fiscal stability and will undermine the central bank’s trust. The primary cryptocurrency’s volatility was causing plenty of troubles for both retail and institutional investors.

This type of asset became a stumbling point for many and caused plenty of hesitations in whether to allocate the funds or not. The BTC price managed to make another surge in the past few months and market an all-time high while a few days ago, it skyrocketed above $58K, bringing other altcoins like ETH with it. Almost immediately after the upgrowth, BTC suffered a strong correction and settled around $50k as per the time of writing. As a result, the crypto market capitalization lost about $300 billion in two days. JPMorgan strategists said that the BTC liquidity will bring more problems as analysts from the US multinational banking institution argued that this benchmark cryptocurrency is in a liquidity shortage and warned investors that it will suffer another drop soon.

Source: https://www.dcforecasts.com/altcoin-news/bank-of-korea-chief-executive-says-crypto-has-no-intrinsic-value/

Mettalex, a DEX focused on token-based commodities trading, announced today the launch of its decentralized commodities exchange on Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum’s Kovan testnet; with 20 available markets for traders to take tokenized long or short positions in using USDT.

Javelin Global Commodities, a leading trading firm of bulk commodities, will be among the first clients to use Mettalex’s platform to manage risk on commodities exposure.

“We understand firsthand the value that Mettalex can provide to derivatives trading in commodities. Mettalex provides a platform to bring transparency and liquidity to these markets which can be used by participants across the commodity value chain.”
– Peter Bradley, CEO of Javelin Global Commodities

On the Mettalex DEX, traders can use stablecoin collateral to open and close positions across eleven commodity markets, seven spread markets, Forex markets, and the top 100 publicly traded companies from the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) index.

With data-feeds powered by Chainlink and Fetch.ai oracles in addition to the Davis Index, Mettalex ensures that its position tokens track the most accurate reference price in a long (L) or short (S) exposure at settlement.

“The ability to hedge the numerous recyclables grades and specialty finished products that make for most of the infrastructure around us has long been a need in our industry. The current system provides the industry with less than a handful of instruments and the basis risk and costs are just unworkable for most companies. Mettalex is finally answering the call for a decentralized exchange that can list any commodity. We look forward to providing our price benchmarks on the Mettalex platform to give the manufacturing, demolition, and alloy producing sectors the precise hedging instruments they need.”
– Sean Davidson, CEO of Davis Index

All trades on Mettalex happen within a predetermined price band based on the asset’s historical volatility. The band allows getting exposure at only a fraction of the cost of the traded asset, effectively enabling leverage. Unlike other exchanges, on Mettalex, users can create the markets they need.

The prerequisite is a reliable oracle that the platform plans to make fully customizable. At present, the reference asset price is periodically fed into the system from multiple reference exchanges, including 1,400 proprietary price indexes for free-market recyclable metals and secondary alloys will be made accessible to commodity market participants for the first time.

“A critical byproduct of the Mettalex platform is the transparency it will bring to the pricing data around the world’s most valuable commodities. By making this type of market intelligence and the ability to trade more readily accessible, Mettalex aims to bring one of the oldest forms of trade in human history into the present century. With Mettalex we aim to align the incentives of traders, stablecoin liquidity providers, and physical commodity holders to create a one-of-the-kind tool that is accessible to anyone on this planet, 24/7/365.”
– Mettalex CEO, Humayun Sheikh

The markets now on dex.mettalex.com include:

• Commodities (butter, steel, copper, iron, aluminum, gold, silver, zinc)
• The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) index
• Synthetic CeFi/DeFi index
• Synthetic AAVE/COMP and LINK/BAND
• Crypto and traditional baskets like BTC/TSLA and BTC/XAU

Source: https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2021/02/26/token-based-commodities-dex-mettalex-launches-on-binance-smart-chain-and-ethereum/