- CBA will be limiting deposits to various crypto exchanges to AUD 10,000 per month.
- Some CBA customers noticed that their deposits to Binance have been pending for days.
- Australian exchange Swyftx is removing ‘.au’ from its trading domain.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the country’s leading bank in terms of assets, has taken steps to strengthen customer protection concerning payments to cryptocurrency exchanges. Effective from Thursday, the bank will either decline or temporarily withhold specific payments made to crypto trading platforms.
CBA will also enforce a monthly limit of AUD 10,000 (around $6,700) for customer payments intended for purchasing cryptocurrencies from exchanges. The decision comes in response to the increasing prevalence of scams and significant losses suffered by customers as a result.
Some customers have reported that their recent deposits to Binance and other Australia-based exchanges have been pending for days despite not hitting the aforementioned deposit limit.
Consequently, Australian exchange Swyftx is removing ‘.au’ in its trading domain.
James Roberts, the general manager of group fraud management services at CBA, stated that the introduction of 24-hour holds, payment declines, and limits on outbound payments to crypto exchanges will help reduce the number of scams and the financial losses incurred by customers.
This move follows CBA’s recent announcement that it will share its NameCheck anti-scam technology with government organizations and other financial companies involved in payment processing across Australia. The objective is to collectively combat scams and fraudulent activities.
In a similar vein, Westpac, another prominent Australian bank, initiated a trial of new customer safeguards for specific cryptocurrency payments to minimize losses arising from scams. Westpac’s list of “high-risk” exchanges reportedly includes Binance, one of the prominent cryptocurrency platforms.
Concurrently, Binance Australia has notified users about the suspension of specific Australian dollar deposits.
Australia is currently grappling with cryptocurrency regulation, and the Labor government has recently proposed measures to strengthen enforcement and oversight in this domain.
