Commonwealth Bank of Australia Halts Crypto Trading Pilot Amid Market Turmoil

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) announced this week that it will be halting its rollout of the upcoming in-app crypto trading facility, due to the current market turmoil.

For those who were trialling the pilot, trading has been put on hold with no mention of when it might be set to restart.

CBA’s chief executive, Matt Comyn, has described the crypto market as “a very volatile sector that remains an enormous amount of interest [for CBA]”. However, the company’s focus seems to be on ensuring customer wellbeing and aligning itself with the proper regulations.

We want to continue to play a leading role in providing input into that and shaping the most appropriate regulatory outcome … Our intention at this stage is to restart the pilot, but there are still a couple of things that we want to work through on a regulatory front to make sure that that is most appropriate.

Advertisement

Matt Comyn, chief executive, Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Australia’s Federal Treasury is currently meeting to discuss these matters, with submissions remaining open until May 27. The result of this weekend’s election will also hold sway over how this regulation might look.

Earlier last month, CBA was experiencing delays with its upcoming crypto app due to regulatory speed bumps. This came as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission worked to ensure that CBA’s offering would comply with design and distribution rules. Plans for the app were announced in November last year, and CBA has met multiple challenges in bringing it to fruition.

CommBank’s Scam Alert

Just a month ago, the Commonwealth Bank issued a scam alert on the discovery of a false crypto platform partnership report. The fake article had been doing the rounds on social media platforms, misrepresenting the CBA brand and trying to entice Aussies to engage with the scammer’s website. CBA was a logical target for the scammers considering the bank’s prior engagement with the crypto industry.