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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, also known as CommBank, has announced that it will allow its customers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies. The crypto assets that will be supported under this new initiative are Bitcoin (BTC/USD) and Ethereum (ETH/USD).
Following this development, CommBank will be the first bank in Australia to offer cryptocurrency services.
CommBank partners with Gemini and Chainalysis
The official announcement states that the bank will partner with Gemini, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange platforms, to launch this new service. Gemini is one of the most compliant exchanges globally.
Chainalysis also recently opened a new office in Canberra, Australia, and it will be a part of this initiative by CommBank. Through these partnerships, the bank has created a cryptocurrency exchange and custody service available to users who use a newly-added feature on the bank’s app. The announcement read,
The pilot will start in the coming weeks, and CBA intends to progressively roll out more features to more customers in 2022. CBA will provide customers with access to up to ten selected crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.
The bank’s CEO, Matt Comyn, stated that it had launched this new service due to the increased demand for digital currencies. He noted that this growing demand presented “both “challenges and opportunities” for firms operating in the financial services sector. However, this has not deterred new players and innovativeness from being witnessed in the sector.
Australia’s crypto regulations
Comyn noted that despite the increased demand for digital assets, the sector was still concerning to Aussies. Investors’ concerns regarding the crypto sector are the challenges that come with using third party exchanges, increased risk for fraud, and lack of trust.
However, the regulatory climate in Australia is expected to change after the official announcement by Senator Andrew James Bragg. The senator stated that legislatures and regulators would bring regulatory clarity in the sector in the next 12 months.
Bragg is the Chair of the Australian as a Technology and Financial Centre Committee. The committee had earlier published 12 recommendations for the crypto sector revolving around tax and licenses.
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