CBA plans to offer cryptocurrency trading to its 6.5 million CommBank app users.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will be Australia’s first crypto-friendly bank. Blockchain Australia expects that the other four important banks, National Australia Bank, Australia, and New Zealand Banking Group, and Westpac, will soon follow the same example.
The bank is now in a partnership with the Gemini crypto exchange and Chainalysis the blockchain analysis to begin its crypto services, according to a Wednesday announcement.
In the following weeks, the bank will begin a test for a small number of customers before launching the complete service in 2022.
Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin are four of the ten cryptocurrencies that will be included in its banking app.
The major four Australian banks sustain Australia’s national and international reputation as the destination of a financial service, therefore this action was significant, according to Blockchain Australia CEO, Steve Vallas.
He believes that this signal will mark Australia as one of the world’s friendliest places towards crypto adoption. Vallas is positive that soon enough other Australian banks will join and offer their own crypto services.
BTC Markets CEO, Caroline Bowler, shares the same opinions with Vallas, stating that with the latest regulations and the crypto acceptance from such a large bank, even more people will be willing to embrace crypto investments. She adds that this is indeed an important move from CBA that will have a big influence on all the other banks.
Gemini’s global head of business development, Dave Abner, expressed his company’s pride in partnering with CBA to deliver world-class crypto services. According to him, this relationship has the potential to set a new standard for banks and financial platforms in Australia and around the world.
CBA’s relationship was not without criticism, with Adrian Przelozny, CEO of Australian crypto exchange Independent Reserve, expressing his displeasure with the bank’s decision to collaborate with an international company. Przelozny added that they will try to collaborate with the other banks.
Allan Flynn, a Canberra-based Bitcoin (BTC) dealer, settled his first complaint against ANZ for de-banking him in 2018 and 2019 owing to his work as a Digital Currency Exchange, according to Cointelegraph.
While ANZ denied any responsibility, it did offer him the opportunity to reapply for a bank account, implying that the bank is more open to cryptocurrency than it was two to three years ago.
There are many things that are taking place in the crypto sector in Australia right now and it seems that the whole industry there is quickly transforming.
Also Read: Russia’s Largest Online Bank Wants to Provide Crypto Investment Services