Commonwealth Bank Of Australia Becomes First Bank To Offer Crypto Services In Kangaroo Country

JAKARTA - Commonwealth Bank of Australia will be the first bank in the country to offer crypto services to retail clients. The announcement came from Australia's largest bank on Wednesday, November 3, signaling a change from a sector that has been refusing to do business with cryptocurrency providers.

Starting with this year's trial, Commonwealth Bank will partner with Gemini Trust Company LLC, a New York-based crypto exchange, to offer trading in around ten cryptocurrencies, through its banking app, which is used by approximately 6.4 million customers.

The move contrasts with three of the CBA's smaller counterparts, National Australia Bank (NAB), Westpac Banking Corp and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd which in September faced criticism for refusing to do business with the cryptocurrency provider.

At the time, Commonwealth Bank Chief Executive Matt Comyn said he was studying the space.

"The emergence and increasing demand for digital currencies from customers creates both challenges and opportunities for the financial services sector, which has seen a large number of new players and business models innovate in this area," Comyn said in a statement Wednesday, November 3.

“We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what are clearly evolving customer needs,” Comyn added.

The bank will offer around 10 cryptocurrencies by 2022 including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, and will work with US blockchain data platform Chainalysis to help its compliance team monitor and mitigate cybercrime threats.

“Customers have expressed concerns regarding some of the crypto services on the market today, including friction using third-party exchanges, risk of fraud, and lack of trust in some new providers. This is why we see this as an opportunity to bring a trusted and secure experience to our customers.” Comyn said in his statement.