Selfwealth will become the first investment platform to offer direct investment and ownership in five popular cryptocurrencies.

Selfwealth has partnered with digital currency exchange BTC Markets to offer Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Chainlink and Uniswap.

And from today customers will be able to familiarise themselves with the tokens on offer based on live data from the BTC Markets exchange. This includes market depth lists and charts and token performance over time.

At a time when many of the larger share trading platforms baulk at offering cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle, Selfwealth has spent 18 months finding the right partner, choosing the most appropriate tokens and navigating a host of regulatory requirements.

Currently, the main avenue for retail investors to invest directly in crypto assets is by buying units via a cryptocurrency exchange. In contrast to these exchanges, Selfwealth AFSL license means it regulated by the Australian Government through ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission).

Consumers will be able to invest in all or part of a token with the trade set at a flat fee of 0.9%, meaning a $1,000 trade would cost $9 and a $2,000 trade $18.

Selfwealth CEO, Cath Whitaker, said the company had given customers six weeks notice of the go live date because she wanted them to conduct their own research and be comfortable if they decide to invest in a riskier asset.

We have been rigorous in its approach to the often risky and complex asset class. For a volatile investment instrument, it important to take careful, measured steps and We'll be taking those same steps alongside our customers.

From our initial research which showed investing in cryptocurrencies would be a valuable addition, to choosing BTC Markets as our partner, and then months of due diligence from regulatory requirements “ it been quite the journey.

We know investing in cryptocurrency won'tbe for everyone, but our research showed 30% of the Selfwealth cohort were already investing in cryptocurrencies and 38% were intending to invest in the future.

We have already beefed up our programs to educate retail investors on a variety of topics and we intend to roll out even more related specifically to crypto-assets.

The advantages/benefits

Ms Whitaker said the main advantages of investing in the five chosen cryptocurrencies through Selfwealth were primarily around mitigating risk to consumers and our retail investors which include:

• Investors don't need to worry about wallets which means they don't need to worry about remembering encryption keys or recovery phrases

• Not having a wallet also reduces the exposure to scams, investors won'tbe able to send or receive cryptocurrency, it strictly for investment

• Currently, moving between popular investment types requires access to multiple trading platforms and for investors to move money multiple times. It all now happens in the one, trusted place.

Ms Whitaker said offering Bitcoin and Ethereum was a no-brainer but there were extensive selection criteria to choose the other three “ taking into account longevity, how they are used in the blockchain ecosystem, what they are used for, what their proposed road map looks like and the community that sits behind them.

As the most well-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is the leader in market capitalisation and overall traction with investors followed by Ethereum.

About the cryptocurrencies

BTC: Bitcoin is the first successful blockchain project focused on peer-to-peer transactions utilising decentralised ledger technology. It is a project with a strong community of developers, a rich history of upgrades and improvements, and the largest market cap among digital asset tokens.

ETH: Ethereum is an open-source, decentralised blockchain project that focuses on smart contract functionality and inter-ledger protocols and interoperability to support other blockchain projects. The Ethereum network runs its own native token, Ether, that powers the functions and processes of projects built on the network.

XRP: Ripple is an, arguably, decentralised real-time payments project that uses distributed ledger technology and other blockchain functionality to support foreign exchange processes, interbank transactions, and remittance payments among other services. Many large international banks have started to use Ripple services to settle cross-border payments in a fraction of the time that traditional payment rails take.

UNI: Uniswap is one of the top decentralised exchange protocols, allowing cryptocurrency users to use the Uniswap network to trade cryptocurrencies for cryptocurrencies, rather than fiat currencies (e.g., AUD, USD, etc.) Uniswap supports transactions from peer-to-peer (i.e. not through an exchange) and integrated with a network of decentralised apps (dApps).

LINK: Chainlink is a decentralised oracle network that facilitates the interoperability of off-chain data with on-chain data, smart contracts, and transactions. It is built to support tamper-proof inputs, combining with on-chain computations in order to execute advanced smart contracts.

Adding the option to invest in cryptocurrency continues a spate of additions to the Selfwealth platform in the past 12 months which has included:

• Offering Minor Accounts for parents to invest in the ASX on behalf of their children

• Access to early trade on US markets

• Access to investing in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Selfwealth is Australia fourth-largest online broking platform with over 120,000 active members. It holds more than $9 billion in assets and has saved its members more than $60 million in brokerage fees compared to using bank-run share trading platforms.