The Commonwealth Bank’s efforts to offer crypto services to 6.5 million customers have been stymied by Red Tape
Expanded crypto services on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) mobile app are being thwarted by financial regulators. In an Australian first, the bank plans to make cryptocurrency services available to all of its 6.5 million customers.
The CBA’s crypto products began as a pilot late last year, with the intention of expanding to all users of its app. However, it now looks that a second pilot is in the works. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has stymied the launch, according to the Australia Financial Review (AFR) on April 6.
ASIC has raised concerns about the launch due to consumer safeguards in the target market and product disclosures.
In order to introduce the services, CBA collaborated with ASIC and numerous other regulatory authorities within the Australian government.
ASIC commissioner Cathie Armor explained her commission’s new attention on crypto, despite arguments that it falls outside of ASIC’s scope, at the Australian Financial Review Cryptocurrency Summit on April 6.
Senator Andrew Bragg, pushing back against new ASIC guidelines that restrict most of the work financial influencers do, argued that ASIC’s rules for financial products cannot be applied to crypto-assets because bitcoin is not considered a financial product under Australian law.