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Australia’s Hostplus weighs crypto access for members

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Australia’s Hostplus weighs crypto access for members

Hostplus is reviewing whether to add crypto exposure to its investment menu after member interest in digital assets continued to grow. 

Summary

  • Hostplus is studying crypto access after members asked for digital assets in retirement portfolios.
  • Any crypto option would likely launch through Choiceplus, pending approval and consumer protection checks.
  • Growing SMSF crypto activity shows rising interest in digital assets among Australian retirement savers.

A Bloomberg report said the fund is considering a model that would give access through its Choiceplus option, though the plan still needs regulatory approval and further design work.

Hostplus is one of Australia’s largest super funds by member count. It has about 2.2 million members, and it ranks among the country’s biggest retirement funds by assets under management, according to Canstar.

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Its chief investment officer, Sam Sicilia, said member requests helped keep the issue on the table. He said, 

”There’s certainly a demand from some of our members who write in and say, ‘Why can’t I have access to cryptocurrency?’” according to Bloomberg.

Choiceplus could be the path for a launch

The report said any crypto access would likely sit inside Hostplus’ Choiceplus option. That part of the fund allows members to manage parts of their retirement savings more directly than standard investment options.

Sicilia said the offer could arrive as soon as the next financial year if the structure is approved. He also said, ”We’d love to get regulatory tick-off, even if it means waiting another six months,” showing the fund is willing to wait for formal clearance.

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In addition, the proposal is still at an early stage. It would need regulatory approval before any launch, and the fund also needs to address consumer protection issues tied to crypto access in retirement products.

Australia’s superannuation market remains large and tightly watched by regulators. APRA said it supervises financial institutions with about A$10.1 trillion in assets, while industry reporting has placed total superannuation assets near A$4.5 trillion by late 2025.

Broader crypto interest is growing in retirement markets

Large super funds have moved slowly on direct crypto access, but some parts of the market have already taken steps. AMP introduced Bitcoin futures exposure in May 2024 as part of its investment approach, according to the report.

Self-managed super funds remain a major route for Australians who want crypto in retirement portfolios. BTC Markets said SMSF registrations on its platform rose 69% year over year in the 2024–2025 financial year, pointing to continued interest from retirement-focused investors.

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Alibaba (BABA) Stock Climbs Nearly 3% on Launch of XuanTie C950 Processor

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BABA Stock Card

Key Highlights

  • Alibaba introduced the XuanTie C950, a cutting-edge 5nm RISC-V processor developed by its DAMO Academy division
  • The processor operates at 3.2 GHz with performance exceeding its predecessor, the XuanTie C920, by over 300%
  • Target applications include cloud infrastructure, AI inference operations, and agentic AI systems
  • The company plans a separate public listing for T-Head, its semiconductor division
  • BABA shares gained 2.98%, finishing at $126.06 on March 23

Alibaba’s semiconductor ambitions took center stage this week. During an internal DAMO Academy conference held Tuesday, the tech giant revealed its XuanTie C950 processor, claiming it represents “the highest performing RISC-V CPU in the world.”

The processor features 5-nanometer manufacturing technology and operates at 3.2 GHz, utilizing the open-source RISC-V architecture. This open framework enables chip developers to adapt instruction sets for specialized AI applications without incurring licensing costs — a strategic benefit for organizations deploying AI agents across large-scale operations.


BABA Stock Card
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, BABA

Performance metrics show the C950 delivering over three times the speed of the earlier XuanTie C920 model. The company has not disclosed which manufacturing partner produced the silicon.

According to Alibaba’s announcement, the processor targets cloud computing environments and AI inference tasks. End users will have the flexibility to configure the chip for specialized inference requirements.

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Building a Complete AI Ecosystem

CEO Eddie Wu articulated his strategy last year: positioning Alibaba as an end-to-end AI technology company spanning both hardware and software layers. That vision is now materializing.

During last week’s quarterly earnings discussion, Wu confirmed that Alibaba’s custom AI accelerators have transitioned into volume production. The T-Head semiconductor division is now competing directly with Nvidia and Huawei in China’s domestic marketplace.

T-Head has already onboarded significant enterprise clients, and Alibaba continues advancing preparations for the unit’s independent stock market debut. That initiative remains in progress.

The company maintains two distinct chip product families. The Zhenwu 810E lineup focuses on AI model training and inference capabilities. Meanwhile, the XuanTie portfolio, now including the C950, targets high-performance cloud environments and agentic AI deployments.

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RISC-V Emerges as Strategic Architecture

RISC-V has gained substantial traction among Chinese technology firms as geopolitical friction restricts access to Western semiconductor intellectual property. Alibaba ranks among the architecture’s earliest and most committed advocates domestically.

The standard directly challenges offerings from Arm Holdings and Intel. When Arm encountered limitations conducting business with Huawei following US export restrictions, RISC-V partially addressed that market void.

The C950 debut caps an active period for Alibaba’s artificial intelligence product portfolio. Last week witnessed the introduction of Wukong, an enterprise-grade platform engineered for AI agent orchestration.

Monday brought the global launch of Accio Work, the international edition of that platform. Targeting small and mid-market enterprises, it promises autonomous execution of sophisticated operational workflows.

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Earlier this month, Alibaba consolidated certain AI development teams into a newly formed division called Alibaba Token Hub, concentrating on enterprise-focused AI workplace solutions.

The competitive landscape: Token pricing for Chinese AI models has plummeted amid intense domestic rivalry, compelling firms like Alibaba to pursue margin protection and competitive differentiation through hardware and infrastructure innovation.

BABA finished trading at $126.06 on March 23, advancing $3.65 or 2.98% for the session. Pre-market activity on March 24 showed shares retreating to $124.94, declining 0.90%.

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Nasdaq and Talos Aim to Tackle Tokenization Collateral Bottleneck

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Nasdaq and Talos Aim to Tackle Tokenization Collateral Bottleneck

Nasdaq will integrate its Calypso risk and collateral platform and trade surveillance system with digital asset infrastructure firm Talos’s institutional trading tools.

The integration announced Monday aims to offer institutional clients a “unified” workflow for managing tokenized collateral and monitoring crypto and traditional assets for market abuse. It aims to ease a bottleneck in institutional tokenization, with Nasdaq citing internal research that roughly $35 billion in collateral sits tied up in “corrective and non-interest-bearing measures.”​

Nasdaq’s integration of its trade surveillance tools means that Talos clients will be able to run alerts for opaque tactics such as wash trading, spoofing and layering across the venues they access. 

The companies said the partnership is intended to bring “institutional-grade” compliance standards to digital asset markets.

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