The largest Australian bank has announced plans to cap payments to cryptocurrency exchanges at $10,000 AUD ($6,663) every month. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) said in a statement reported by an international magazine that it will delay or reject some of the transfers for 24 hours.
According to James Roberts, general manager of Group Fraud Management Services at CBA, scams are “masquerading as legitimate investment opportunities or diverting funds into cryptocurrency exchanges,” which is why the company will soon be making this adjustment.
The analysis estimates that at least 3 billion Australian dollars were lost by Australians in scams in 2022, an increase of 80% over the previous year. The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claims that cryptocurrency is a major factor in this development.
Australians are making the laws very hard
Australia’s banking sector has been making it more difficult to move fiat funds to digital asset exchanges, citing scam-related dangers as their primary justification. CBA’s decision is another threat to the crypto trading business in Australia.
The Westpac Banking Corporation of Australia announced on May 18 that it was experimenting with enhanced client protections for some cryptocurrency payments in an effort to cut down on “scam losses.” As soon as the news broke, Binance Australia announced that it could no longer use the Australia payment gateway Cuscal to take deposits. The second stressed its dedication to “protecting Australians from financial crimes and scams.”
Another Bloomberg story from late May detailed how Binance Australia customers were offering steep discounts on the sale of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Since the popular Australian payment provider Payid stopped processing withdrawals in Australian dollars for the exchange’s users, the exchange’s prices diverged from those of other exchanges in the country.
To read our article about “Binance exits Netherlands, facing crisis in France in 2023” click here.
