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How to resolve AdBlock issue? Pepperstone Crypto research chief Chris Weston welcomes stronger regulation
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
CRYPTOCURRENCY, digital money created an alternative government issue currency, has major advantages over traditional money transfers. Think privacy, security decentralisation and speed.
Examples include Bitcoin and Ethereum.
But there are disadvantages. These include instability, with crypto prices changing quickly; the environmental impact with studies showing that worldwide crypto mining requires twice as much energy to power homes; potential for abuse with crypto’s anonymous nature meaning illicit transactions are impossible to trace; as well as tax and legal issues.
But Chris Weston, Pepperstone Crypto’s head of research, is backing stronger regulation. Pepperstone Crypto wants greater transparency, and it wants to push down costs for everyday traders. 
Australia leads in crypto adoption
Mr Weston said the adoption rates of crypto in Australia were higher on a relative basis than anywhere else in the world.
“We think there’s an edge on the pricing situation,” Mr Weston told Talking Business.
“From a cost perspective, there’s an increasing transparency angle where if you look at what it costs to buy and sell crypto, there’s a fee involved and also a spread.”
Mr Weston said, from a costing perspective, there was the chance for Pepperstone to be cheaper and more transparent and offer better liquidity conditions for the domestic market.
“We know the market, we know the regulations and from a trader and investor experience perspective, there’s the transparency angel that can be solved and heightened and we’re trying to address it,” he said.
Mr Weston said the volatility of crypto could be an attribute for people looking to diversify their portfolios.
“It depends on who you are and your risk tolerance and what you’re trying to achieve,” he said.
“The volatility is an attribute to some people. If you’re trying to spread the variance in your portfolio, having a high volatility asset can increase diversification.
“Of course, if you’re super low risk across all your investments, then crypto may not be the asset you’d look at. Bur for a large period of time, having a high volatility asset can be advantageous.”
Volatility has worked for crypto in the US
Mr Weston said the US has been a good example of this, where there are spot ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), regulated investment funds that hold actual, underlying assets in safe storage and track the market price in real-time.
These allow investors to gain direct exposure to assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum through a standard brokerage account without needing digital wallets.
Mr Weston said this has given institutional investors and high net worth individuals a compliant vehicle to buy sport crypto
The bottom line, however, is that so many Australians are now investing in crypto.
“What we’ve seen locally is there’s been a huge adoption story in Australia,” Mr Weston said.
“30% of Australians have invested in crypto at some stage. Younger cohorts of people have a strong interest in it.
“The adoption rates in Australia have been really strong.”
Mr Weston said crypto had held up really well during the US-Iran conflict.
“Much better than gold,” he said.
“It’s outperformed during this geopolitical conflict and higher inflation regime.”
Mr Weston said Pepperstone wanted transparency in the crypto market.
“That’s what builds trust,” he said. 
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-17-interview-with-chris-weston-from-peppers
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