• Commonwealth Bank, one of Australia’s big four banks, has announced that it will decline or place a 24-hour hold on “certain payments” to crypto exchanges.
• The move follows Westpac bank’s ban on payments to crypto exchanges in May.
• The bank’s users will face an AUD 10,000 ($6,650) monthly limit on crypto exchange payments.
Australian Bank Restrictions On Crypto Exchanges
Commonwealth Bank, one of Australia’s big four banks, recently announced that it would decline or place a 24-hour hold on certain payments to crypto exchanges. This announcement follows the implementation of a ban by another Australian bank – Westpac – which prevented customers from making payments to crypto exchanges in May. Commonwealth Bank also plans to introduce an AUD 10,000 ($6,650) monthly limit for its users for crypto exchange payments.
Purpose Of These Restrictions
The purpose of these restrictions is to protect customers from being scammed when making payments to crypto exchanges. James Roberts, General Manager of Group Fraud Management Services at Commonwealth Bank said that while the measures won’t completely eliminate the risks involved with making such payments they are part of their range of initiatives and will help reduce incidents and funds lost by users.
Other Banks Following Suit
Westpac isn’t the only Australian bank taking steps towards protecting its customers when it comes to cryptocurrency transactions; other banks have followed suit as well; NAB and ANZ have both warned their customers about potential scams associated with cryptocurrency investments and transactions.
SEC Lawsuit Against Coinbase
In related news regarding the cryptocurrency industry in June 2021, Coinbase was hit with a lawsuit brought forth by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This led Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responding stating that former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler’s views were not representative of the US government as a whole; causing him to withdraw over 70k staked ETH from his company’s platform due to this legal action being taken against them by the SEC . In addition Cardano company Input Output stated that ADA tokens were not securities under US law; while Binance CEO CZ was summoned before District Court in Columbia over allegations regarding irregularities at Binance US during its launch period in 2019..
Conclusion
It is evident that government bodies across many countries are taking steps towards regulating cryptocurrencies more tightly so as to protect investors from scams and fraudulent activities related to cryptocurrencies transactions and investments . This means that even though some banks are placing limits or bans on certain types of transactions involving cryptocurrency ; there may be more regulations coming out in future which could lead too further restrictions being placed upon exchanges dealing with digital assets .