The Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull has taken part in the launch of a new FinTech app called OnMarket, which is supposed to democratise the process of capital raising – previously a prerogative of big companies. He entered a US$2,000 bid for shares in Bitcoin Group which is about to release its initial public offering.

Bitcoin Group is one of the Australia's largest mining operators that assists the global blockchain network by validating approximately 135,000 transactions per day. It announced its plans to release the IPO in September, scheduling the beginning of trades for 11 November. If the IPO is successful, Bitcoin Group plans to achieve the level of production of 374 to 551 bitcoins daily. The OnMarket founder and CEO Ben Bucknell described the IPO as the one “borne out of the belief that technology has the power to transform capital markets”.

“The brilliance of this application is simply that it makes it easier to buy, makes it easier to trade. If you want to sell something, make it easier for your customers to find you, to reach you, to transact with you. Inevitably this application will open up the investment market considerably,” PM Turnbull said, adding that technology is likely to reduce spreads in the market, as it always does.

He believes that an IPO which opens the capital raising process to anyone interested “will give more power to the private investor”.

To be approached by OnMarket, a company shall submit a virtual petition which will allow users to indicate their interest in buying its shares. As soon as it gets enough votes, OnMarket will engage with the company.

The number of Australians already investing in the share market amounts to 6 million, with, as the statistics shows, another 3.6 million being keen to start. OnMarket sees them all as potential bidders.

Interestingly, in the beginning of the year Australian Securities and Investment Commission prohibited Bitcoin Group from publishing any statements about the potential IPO on the Australian Security Exchange (ASX), as it had started advertising campaign before submitting all necessary legal documentation.

Maria Rudina