Our observations and notes:

This article addresses the crypto culture in Melbourne, Australia. If not for this article who outside Australia would have thought that Melbourne is home to a few crypto projects. The most interesting of which is the the world's most efficient and quantum-safe blockchain protocol that protects crypto from being cracked by quantum computers and preserves the privacy of the users. .

The first Bitcoin ATM was installed at the Emporium in 2014, but there are only 13 Bitcoin ATMs dotted around Melbourne, mostly in big shopping centers. Australian banks have a slightly wary approach to crypto — while many banks are happy to allow users to send funds to exchanges, plenty of users have reported being suddenly debanked, especially those running crypto-related businesses. "They close accounts at will based on crypto use, and we've seen that happen, so they're still not supportive as an industry," says Cohen.

Such knee-jerk reaction by banks from around the world are common but we think it will be a thing of the past soon as crypto gains mainstream acceptance, and regulatory clarity sets in. Unfortunately, when that happens, the banks that acted too soon to close accounts will be the big losers as it will be difficult to gain back their lost clients.

The New Payments Platform in Australia is something of a competitor to crypto (at least in terms of payments), allowing instant, 24/7 bank transfers using a phone number or email address. Often referred to as PayID, it was cited by the Reserve Bank of Australia as a reason that a central bank digital currency is not needed in Australia just yet.

Being a competitor to crypto in terms of payment is not really a competition. Crypto has much to offer than just payment.

According to Coinmap, you'll struggle to spend cryptocurrency directly in Melbourne at present, with fewer than 40 retail outlets accepting Bitcoin. (By way of comparison, Ljubljana in Slovenia has half the population but 554 crypto-accepting merchants.) It wasn't always like this, with swathes of Melbourne cafes and businesses accepting crypto a few years ago, but then removing the option after it failed to take off.

Forty (40) retail outlets accepting crypto is still considered very good in comparison to most other cities in the world. No new technology had a smooth take off. As adoption grows, retail acceptance will grow along with it.

Notable figures
Ethereum influencer Anthony Sassano; BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler; Apollo Capital chief investment officer Henrik Andersson; A. J. Milne of Meld Ventures and Algomint; Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas; Tom Nash and Alex Ramsey of Flex Dapps; Women in Blockchain International manager Akasha Indream; Algorand Foundation chief operating officer Jason Lee; CanYa and THORChain founder JP Thor; "Satoshi's sister" Lisa Edwards; Blockchain Centre founder Sam Lee (also of the now-defunct ACX); RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub professor Jason Potts; Joseph Liu, director of the Monash Blockchain Technology Centre and inventor of the tech behind Monero; Oxen chief technology officer Kee Jefferys; Emerging Tech Talent founder Karen Cohen; Ethitech head of education Anouk Pinchetti; TypeHuman director Nick Byrne; Auscoin founder Sam Karagiozis; and blockchain law specialists Joni Pirovich of Mills Oakley and John Bassilios of Hall & Wilcox. Cointelegraph team members and contributors based in Melbourne: Andrew Fenton, Brian Quarmby, Kelsie Nabben.

The list of notable crypto figures in Melbourne indicates there is no shortage of crypto talent in the city.

Check out the original article [here](https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/2021/08/04/crypto-city-guide-to-melbourne)
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