Commonwealth Bank of Australia News

This marks the second “Big Four” bank in Australia to launch an Australian-dollar pegged stablecoin in a bid to boost the digital economy.

Leigh Travers feels that a change in Australia’s government could slow down work on crypto regulations that could prove that the industry is already operating at a higher level than traditional finance.

Executives from two of Australia’s “big four” banks have said they won’t allow their retail customers to trade crypto with ANZ, adding they’re happy they didn’t “go head long” into a cryptocurrency offering.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn insists his bank will move forward with the second pilot of crypto services on its app once regulatory uncertainty is cleared up.

“Most of the industry utilizes non-bank and often unregulated USD stablecoins. Now with this Big 4 bank-issued AUD stablecoin, the use case is a lot more compelling,” said ZeroCap CEO Ryan McCall.

On partnering with the NRL, the CEO said the “mass appeal of sport means it’s a ... important way for exchanges to announce themselves.”

Following Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s “payments and crypto reform plan,” the RBA has published a report exploring DLT tech and wholesale CBDC issuance.

“Our main concern is that many taxpayers believe their cryptocurrency gains are tax-free or only taxable when the holdings are cashed back into Australian dollars,” said the ATO commissioner.

“It’s still a very volatile investment, so any allocation exposure we make to cryptocurrencies is likely to be part of our diversified portfolio,” said Rest Super CIO Andrew Lill on Tuesday.

“We see risks in participating, but we see bigger risks in not participating,” said CBA CEO Matt Comyn on the bank’s recent crypto adoption play.

“When you look under the hood on that, we've concluded that this is a major protocol shift for financial market infrastructure,” said Nigel Dobson, ANZ’s banking services portfolio lead.

The CBA stated that it will support 10 crypto assets in its banking app, including Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.

Speaking on a panel as part of the Senate inquiry into “Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre,” three crypto firms outlined their de-banking experience in Australia.

Australia's crypto ecosystem thrives despite the pandemic, with DeFi booming, a five-year blockchain roadmap and institutional adoption.

Blockchain tech could purportedly reduce the timeline of bank guarantees processes by days.