The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced that it would be the first bank in Australia to allow customers to buy, sell, and hold crypto assets directly through the CommBank app. Customers will get access to up to ten crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, according to CBA.
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CBA promises to provide customers with access to up to ten selected crypto assets
The bank has teamed with Gemini, one of the world’s largest regulated crypto exchanges and custodians, as well as Chainalysis, a renowned blockchain analysis firm. Both collaborations have enabled the bank to develop a crypto exchange and custody service, which will be made available to consumers via a new feature in the app.
The test will begin in the next weeks, with CBA planning to gradually roll out more capabilities to a larger number of customers by 2022. Customers will get access to up to ten crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, according to CBA.
According to the bank’s study, many of its customers desire to invest in crypto-assets and are currently purchasing, selling, and holding crypto assets on several crypto exchanges.
“The emergence and growing demand for digital currencies from clients presents both problems and possibilities for the financial services sector, which has seen a considerable number of new competitors and business models innovate in this space,” CBA CEO Matt Comyn said.
“We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what’s clearly a growing customer need and provide the capability, security, and confidence in a crypto trading platform. “As we consider ways to better serve our customers, we’ve decided to develop an exclusive collaboration in Australia with Gemini, a worldwide leader with robust security and a track record of supporting large institutions. Through APIs, CBA will integrate Gemini’s crypto exchange and custody service into the CommBank app,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Australia’s banking regulator said it was looking into the regulatory implications of Commonwealth Bank’s intention to provide bitcoin trading to unsophisticated individual investors, making it the first bank in the country to do so.
According to Reuters, the action is forcing Australian financial regulators to focus immediately on the $2 trillion crypto trading business, which many argue has no intrinsic value and relies on users’ entire trust in various types of software.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has been informed of the country’s largest lender’s plans, and the authority is “considering regulatory difficulties that this creates”, according to Reuters.
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