The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Australia’s largest bank, said it will refuse or temporarily suspend certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges, citing risks from scammers.
The move comes amid two major global exchanges facing a lawsuit from a US securities regulator, and just weeks after another major bank, Westpac, banned customers from trading platform Binance.
On June 8, CBA He said It would refuse or hold for 24 hours on “certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.” The bank did not say which exchanges or types of payment would be affected by the new measures.
reports from @employee @financial review that @employee It banned Australian dollar transfers to “high-risk” cryptocurrency exchanges and limited transactions with others to $10,000 per month, with a 24-hour delay. $700k a day leaves CBA as scam money heading into cryptocurrency. Banks and the cryptocurrency industry…
– Caroline Bowler (@CaroBowler) June 8, 2023
“Today the Commonwealth Bank introduced new measures to help protect customers from fraud risks associated with making certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges,” he wrote in a statement.
It added a cap of $6,650 (AU$10,000) per month for customers who send money to cryptocurrency exchanges to buy cryptocurrencies that will be introduced “in the coming months.”
“Starting today, the CBA will refuse or hold for 24 hours certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges. In the coming months, the bank will also introduce a limit of $10,000 per calendar month where the bank can limit customer payments for exchanges for cryptocurrency purchases,” he said.
CBA General Director of Fraud Management Services James Roberts has claimed that “scammers globally are capitalizing” on the interest in cryptocurrency, pretending to be “legitimate investment opportunities or funneling money to cryptocurrency exchanges.”
The bank said the measure would be subject to constant review and would monitor the impact of the measures.