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8 October 2025
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Stablecoins have been hyped as a gamechanger for the payments industry. But while they could find success in certain niches, a broader upheaval of Visa and Mastercard's payments dominance looks unlikely.
As every aspect of our lives has been transformed by digitisation, the changing nature of money and currencies should come as no surprise. But while bitcoin is here to stay, many investors still lack a clear grasp of what it is.
Senator Hume describes the crypto ecosystem as a new virtual frontier, and says she will not stand in the way of pioneering Australians chasing the opportunities and benefits presented by innovations in crypto assets.
Long gone is the time when investing was only finding traditional value stocks making profits. Now there's Bitcoin, crypto, NFTs, memes, and finfluencers. Among a few winners, much of it will not end well.
Cryptocurrencies have created the perfect recipe to encourage speculation with the most important ingredient for a bubble to form being something new and shiny to attract investor attention. What's it really worth?
Bitcoin is at a tipping point. We could be at the start of massive transformation of cryptocurrency into the mainstream. Here are 10 observations on whether Bitcoin is a vital part on our financial futures.
Australia prides itself on being an open, trading nation, but we rank a poor 106th in the world on trade system productivity. We have not digitalised, failing to set up a competitive recovery from COVID.
If you're still getting your head around blockchain, read this quick summary on the potential of distributed ledgers. The technology is not without problems but cannot be ignored.
Blockchain is a powerful technology. The most successful companies will be those that have the ability to harness its power. Three groundbreaking examples are global payments, data protection and verifying land titles.
One of the founding fathers of blockchain technology and an expert in cryptography and distributed computing first mentioned in 1991 a blockchain that utilised digital time-stamps for ordering transactions.
This AI cycle feels less like a revolution and more like a rerun. Just like fibre in 2000, shale in 2014, and cannabis in 2019, the technology or product is real but the capital cycle will be brutal. Investors beware.
An explosion in low-skilled migration to Australia has depressed wages, killed productivity, and cut rental vacancy rates to near decades-lows. It’s time both sides of politics addressed the issue.
LICs are continuing to struggle with large discounts and frustrated investors are wondering whether it’s worth holding onto them. This explains why the next 6-12 months will be make or break for many LICs.
Australian housing’s 50-year boom was driven by falling rates and rising borrowing power — not rent or yield. With those drivers exhausted, future returns must reconcile with economic fundamentals. Are we ready?
Younger Australians think they’ll need $100k a year in retirement - nearly double what current retirees spend. Expectations are rising fast, but are they realistic or just another case of lifestyle inflation?
This week, I got the news that my mother has dementia. It came shortly after my father received the same diagnosis. This is a meditation on getting old and my regrets in not getting my parents’ affairs in order sooner.