Commonwealth Bank of Australia suspends some cryptocurrency payments to ensure investor asset security

Commonwealth Bank of Australia halts some cryptocurrency payments for investor asset safety.

Author: Mandy Williams, CryptoPotato; Translation: Matsuyuki, Blocking

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) – the largest bank in Australia – announced that it is temporarily reducing “certain” payments to cryptocurrency exchanges as part of the country’s new anti-scam measures.

According to an official statement, CBA will refuse or temporarily suspend crypto payments for 24 hours or longer. As part of measures to prevent fraud risks, the bank will also set a limit of AUD 10,000 ($6,650) on payments made to exchanges in the coming months.

CBA Suspends Certain Crypto Payments

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James Roberts, the group general manager of fraud management services at CBA, said: “Consumer interest in cryptocurrency has been growing and unfortunately, global scammers are taking advantage of this trend, disguising themselves as legitimate investment opportunities or transferring funds to cryptocurrency exchanges. Customers who make payments to cryptocurrency exchanges currently face higher potential scam risks.”

Roberts added that introducing a 24-hour hold, refusal, and restriction on payments made to cryptocurrency exchanges will help reduce fraud cases and customer losses. CBA will monitor the impact of this fraud prevention measure and will be subject to review.

“In Australia, a whole-of-ecosystem approach is needed to combat fraud, and CBA is committed to ensuring customer safety. This is an issue that is widely focused on by government, regulators, banks, and other industry sectors. We are committed to working with the government, regulators, banks, telcos, and other industry sectors to develop wider solutions to ensure the safety of Australians’ assets,” Roberts added.

Major Shift

CBA’s move is a major shift, with the bank announcing in November 2021 that it would enable cryptocurrency trading for Australians on its bank application CommBank. CBA became the first Australian bank to launch such a service, supporting ten cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).

However, a dispute with Australian financial regulators last year prevented the launch of the cryptocurrency trading service pilot.

CDA is not the only major Australian bank that prohibits customers from trading with cryptocurrency exchanges. Last month, Westpac banned its users from paying to the leading cryptocurrency trading platform Binance as part of its recent measures against scams.

Meanwhile, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has instructed banks to report their risk exposure to cryptocurrency-related firms and startups.

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