A huge development has taken place down under, as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia will become the country’s “first main-street bank to offer a platform for retail customers to trade cryptocurrencies.” This move is a massive embrace of crypto assets and definitively goes against what competitor banks are doing in the country. It appears it […] The post Massive Australian Bank Plunges into Crypto appeared first on CryptosRus.

Massive Australian Bank Plunges into Crypto

A huge development has taken place down under, as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia will become the country’s “first main-street bank to offer a platform for retail customers to trade cryptocurrencies.” This move is a massive embrace of crypto assets and definitively goes against what competitor banks are doing in the country. It appears it was done in a move to stay competitive, as platforms like Coinbase have taken steps that will send shivers down the spines of traditional banks.

Yesterday, Coinbase announced that customers can borrow up to $1 million USD using Bitcoin as collateral. The announcement indicated that customers will simply be able to “borrow cash using Bitcoin as collateral” with no credit check and a simple 8% APY. Coinbase is available in Australia, and it appears that traditional banks are realizing they better get in before it’s too late.

Commonwealth Bank is the largest lender in all of Australia, and now they will be diving headfirst into the crypto space. According to the announcement, the bank will “partner with New York-based exchange Gemini Trust Company LLC to offer a “crypto exchange and custody service” through a new feature in its mobile banking app that is used by about 6.4 million customers.”

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This will generate massive exposure to crypto for millions of Aussies who may still want to engage with their traditional and familiar services. The bank’s CEO Matt Comyn said: “We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what’s clearly a growing customer need.” One of the largest Australian exchanges, BTC Markets, and their CEO Caroline Bowler said it is “really exciting” that a bank of Commonwealth’s size will “enables retail clients to directly buy crypto through their platform.”

This deal is a huge change for Australian Banks, as the “big 4” banks in the region, which includes Commonwealth, have spoken out about crypto in the past, and just in September said they refused to do business with crypto entities. Commonwealth has now broken ranks with the others and embraced crypto. For slow-moving institutions such as these, engrained in the status quo, this means the demand must be unprecedented.

The bank has confirmed as much, saying their move is due to “by growing client demand and comes as local crypto services are being offered by fintechs such as Square and PayPal.” Also, as mentioned before, what Coinbase is doing must be a factor as well. The bank is even exploring a pilot plan for crypto payments, which they plan to roll out in 2022. This also indicates that Australian regulators are on board with crypto and don’t plan to treat it as a security.

First, they ignore you

Then they laugh at you

Then they fight you

Then you win <— We are here

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