Commonwealth Bank (CBA), one of the most important banks in Australia, appears to be one of the financial institutions that achieve a healthy relationship with bitcoin (BTC). According to sources, it will announce in the next few hours that it will allow its clients to store and use this and other cryptocurrencies through its mobile application.
According to what was published by the local Financial Review media, citing internal sources of the institution, about 6.5 million users will have access to these services related to the ecosystem, in an attempt to attract younger customers and stay in competition with platforms such as Square and PayPal.
The measure will make that bank the first in that country (and one of the few in the world) to offer bitcoin-related services to its customers. It is believed that this plan seeks to allow users of the application buy bitcoins and make other investments from next year.
Specifies the means that the CBA will announce the new measure tomorrow, Wednesday morning. Also planned is the announcement of partnerships with the exchange Gemini, which will be in charge of facilitating the trade, and the analysis firm Chainalysis, which provide intelligence and compliance services for BTC transactions.
Although there is no official information, sources close to the institution told the newspaper that offering cryptocurrencies “will increase the commitment to its application”, something key to performance, because due to the volatility of bitcoin and other assets, customers will enter the app more often to verify the value of your holdings.
In the CBA, they even plan to enable an option to pay for goods and services in the real economy using cryptocurrencies, according to one of the sources consulted by that newspaper.
The Australian bank would prepare to be able to provide bitcoin services to its clients. Source: Wikipedia
More of a technology platform than a bank
According to the media, the CBA seeks for its application to gain total relevance and become part of the entity’s own digital ecosystem, allowing clients to pay bills, check balances, and manage properties or pay for services.
“CBA wants to operate more as a technological platform than as a traditional bank,” say the sources, adding that the bank does not want to be left behind in creating large attractive applications for customers.
Financial Review pointed out that the Australian Tax Office has estimated that more than 600,000 taxpayers have invested in digital assets in recent years and that the CBA already discussed their plans with regulators, “Who are considering introducing licensing regimes for cryptocurrencies.”
The interesting thing is that this adoption of BTC occurs just when this and other banks were criticized in the Australian Senate Committee hearings in September for not having provided the necessary banking services to companies linked to cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin is “too important to ignore”
The news of the adoption of the Australian bank recalls the recent investigation of Bank Of America, one of the most important entities in the United States (USA), where admitted bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as too important assets to ignore.
“Bitcoin is important, but the digital asset ecosystem is much more important. Our research aims to explore the implications across all industries, including finance, technology, supply chains, social media and gaming, ”said the Bank’s Director of Global Strategy for Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets, Alkesh Shah, as reported by ..
In fact, and along those lines, a group of US banking regulators communicated their intention to provide a “clear route” for banks and customers who want to have bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Jelena McWilliams, the president of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), said that cryptocurrencies could be included on each person’s bank balances as traditional assets. It even states that could begin to be used as collateral for loans.
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