One of Australia’s big four banks has announced a game-changing move that will change the way Aussies bank forever.
Commonwealth Bank will be the first major Australian bank to offer customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency directly through its app, with the move “reimagining banking” it said.
It will provide its 6.5 million customers with access to up to 10 selected crypto coins including bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and litecoin via a new feature in the app.
A pilot of the crypto exchange will be available in coming weeks while the bank plans to roll out more features to customers from next year.
The new feature has been designed with the help of the world’s largest regulated crypto exchanges, Gemini.
Research from Commonwealth Bank has found a large number of its customers want to access crypto assets as an investment and are already buying, selling and holding crypto assets through a variety of crypto exchanges.
CEO Matt Comyn said the growing demand for digital currencies from customers creates both challenges and opportunities for the financial services sector, which has seen a significant number of new players and business models innovating in this area.
“We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what’s clearly a growing customer need and provide capability, security and confidence in a crypto trading platform,” he said.
“In looking at ways that we can support our customers, we have made the strategic decision to form an exclusive partnership in Australia with Gemini, a global leader with strong security and a track-record of serving large institutions. CBA will leverage Gemini’s crypto exchange and custody service and integrate it into the CommBank app.”
The bank has also partnered with Chainalysis, a global leader in blockchain data and analytics to help compliance teams monitor and mitigate the threat of crime through crypto asset exchanges.
“Financial institutions like CBA play an integral role in growing cryptocurrency adoption safely,” said Michael Gronager, CEO and co-founder of Chainalysis.
Mr Comyn added that customers have expressed concern regarding some of the crypto services in the market today, including the friction of using third party exchanges, the risk of fraud, and the lack of trust in some new providers.
“We remain committed to reimagining banking and will continue to bring more functionality into the CommBank app including investing and shopping,” he said.
The move is part of a bid to appeal to younger customers and keep pace with rivals such as Square and PayPal, which already allow users to trade and spend bitcoin.
Caroline Bowler, CEO of Australian owned crypto exchange BTC Market said Commonwealth Bank’s move was exciting but inevitable.
“It’s yet another ‘red letter day’ for crypto and it is as though Australia has suddenly put the lead foot down. We have been touted as playing catch up all this while, but now we’re moving into a leadership position globally with our largest bank, and one of the most significant mainstream financial institutions in the world offering millions of customers access to cryptocurrencies,” she said.
“With regulation in the offing and the largest bank in the country allowing it, the floodgates are now open for more appetite from traditional finance and smart money to move into cryptocurrencies.”
Originally published as Commonwealth Bank to trade cryptocurrency in Australia
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