Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Has the minister, either in opposition or government, received any gift, support, benefit or sponsorship, actual or in kind, from any blockchain technology company or cryptocurrency company? If so, what exactly was the nature of that gift, support, benefit or sponsorship?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his question. I don't believe I have received any gifts from any cryptocurrency or blockchain people. I will come back to support benefits in a minute, but I did receive about 0.8 per cent of a US cent in Bitcoin as a gift from somebody once.

I had a Bitcoin wallet on my phone, the old phone that I had, and with the increase in value of Bitcoin, that 0.8 of a cent—actually, no, it was about one-tenth of one cent. It had all the zeros, and eventually one zero disappeared, so I assumed that growth in the value of Bitcoin meant that my 0.1 of a cent might have been worth almost one cent at that point. Given we have this $750 threshold, I didn't think 0.1 of a cent was—but, if I should have declared it, then I apologise to the house and I will correct the record if that 0.1 of a cent needed to be declared.

I did go to Washington last March, and I went to the second World Blockchain Summit in Washington DC. I don't think you would call it a benefit; I paid for my accommodation and I paid for my airfares. However, what I did get was the tremendous honour of hosting a dinner in the Australian Embassy. Our ambassador, the Hon. Joe Hockey, was out of town and he said, 'Ridgey, can you look after the place for me?'

I know that members opposite get a bit upset when I am doing things beyond the role of a state MP, but I hosted a dinner in the Australian Embassy for all of the important people who were at the second World Blockchain Summit, including Professor Robert Kahn, one of the inventors of the internet. He is an elderly gentleman, but he said that he and a group of other scientists had these computers and thought, 'Maybe if we get them to talk to each other, that might be something new and interesting to do.' Well, look where the internet is today, and he was one of the scientists behind that.

So while I got a benefit and enriched myself personally, meeting and talking with these people, I don't think I got any financial benefit. Of course, I am hopeful that Dr Robert Kahn will visit Australia this year. He has some interesting thoughts around blockchain. He sees blockchain as being about where the internet was in the 1990s.

When we say blockchain, it's actually distributed ledger technology—it's not blockchain. I am sure the honourable member knows the difference between blockchain and distributed ledger technology and the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum and some of the other digital currencies and cryptocurrencies—I am sure he is across all of that. Lubin saw that as being at about the 1990s. He thinks the technology we have now is about where the internet was in the 1990s. It is quite special. Nobody quite understands what it will mean for the future of our economies, but it is something that is here to stay.

At that dinner also, Hugh Sheridan from Packed to the Rafters—a great Australian—was there. He sang the national anthem for us as well. So again, I was enriched personally by spending a few hours with Hugh Sheridan. I am not sure whether you have to declare those personal sort of enrichments. I was disappointed, and I put it on the record for ambassador Hockey, there was no South Australian wine on the menu—it was Californian wine. I thought that was something we need to rectify because we should have at least had Australian wine. As you know, Mr President, my preference would have been to have South Australian wine.

So while I attended this conference, I don't recall getting any benefit other than enriching myself personally, looking at some opportunities for South Australia in the cryptocurrency/distributed ledger technology. As members opposite recall, a few weeks after that, last year, we held a blockchain summit at Adelaide Oval hosted by the current Premier. It was an interesting turnout with a sell-out crowd. It was packed to the rafters, if you will pardon the pun—our star from Packed to the Rafters wasn't there.

Joe Lubin, the inventor of Ethereum and the digital currency Ether, was flying from Singapore to Sydney on his first ever visit to Australia. This is all about networking and meeting people and developing friendships. We convinced him to come to Adelaide. He had four hours in his diary and he stayed for four days, so impressed was he by the hospitality that the opposition gave him. We showed him around our great state. The Adelaide Fringe was on. The then opposition leader took him to a number of different places because he was very keen to demonstrate to these sort of world leaders that South Australia, when we win government, is open for business.

I don't recall and I don’t think I have ever received a personal benefit from anything to do with blockchain and cryptocurrency other than being enriched personally and hopefully having the opportunity to enrich the community of South Australia with the adoption of those technologies.