Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is now the first Australian mainstream bank to offer crypto services in the Oceanic country, coming after a prolonged period of hesitation from the industry. Furthermore, CBA has also tapped the expertise of American crypto exchange Gemini, and Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm in offering these services. These services will revolve around offering crypto exchange and custody services, whereupon customers can undertake a host of activities. Such activities include buying, selling, and holding up to 10 selected crypto assets – such as BTC, ETH, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.
CBA stated that all transactions will take place within its CommBank app, and that the pilot would commence in a few weeks. In addition, the Australian bank intends to unveil more features on a progressive basis next year.
Matt Comyn, CEO of CBA stated that the bank arrived at this decision due to customer demand for such services. In the CEO’s own words:
“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,”
Furthermore, Comyn said CBA discovered that many of its customers were already getting crypto exposure through several crypto exchanges.
The majority of banks in Australia are steering clear of digital currencies at the moment. Despite this, crypto is still proving popular in the country, with one research showing that one in six Australians own crypto. In addition, the total amount of crypto owned by Australians amounts to $6.02 billion – or 8 billion Australian dollars.
Image Credits: Pixabay
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