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As Authorities Hesitate Commonwealth Bank Suspends Its Crypto Trading Trial

source-logo  thecoinrepublic.com 20 May 2022 22:21, UTC
  • The CBA turned into Australia’s initial significant bank to give digital currency administrations through its versatile application. The trial programme offered access to the app’s 6.5 million users once it was completely implemented. Those plans are currently on hold indefinitely.
  • CBA gave Cointelegraph a record of a Tuesday bank instructions in which CEO Matt Comyn expressed that administrative clearness was all the while forthcoming.
  • Dimitrios Salampasis, a leadership and entrepreneurship lecturer at Swinburne University, told The Guardian that CBA may be moving cautiously to avoid reputational damage.

Once regulatory uncertainty is resolved, Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn insists his bank will move on with the second pilot of crypto services via its app. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has put its plans for a second crypto trading pilot programme on hold indefinitely, cutting off access to individuals who participated in the first round of testing.

Banking Regulators Object’s At Allowing Regular Bank Users Easy Access To Crypto

CBA handed Cointelegraph a transcript of a Tuesday bank briefing in which CEO Matt Comyn stated that regulatory clarity was still pending. He also stated that he was working closely with a variety of regulators on the right treatment of this particular product, as you would expect:

Our objective is still to continue the pilot at this time, but there are a few things we need to sort out on the regulatory front to ensure that this is the best option. Comyn stated that a Treasury filing for the programme is now being reviewed, but he did not provide an estimated completion date.

Even though the second pilot programme had already been placed on hold by April when banking regulators objected at allowing regular bank users easy access to crypto, Comyn added that the current week’s high instability sought affirm the need for the lengthy postponement. Consumer protections were missing from the CBA’s services, according to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). It is certainly a very volatile sector with an enormous lot of interest, he remarked.

But, alongside that volatility and awareness, and, I guess, the magnitude, you can see there is a lot of interest from regulators and people thinking about the best way to control that, says the author. Comyn also hinted that the bank was waiting for the outcome of the May 21 federal election. If a new regime takes power, the crypto regulatory landscape might undergo significant changes, according to Comyn, who added that the incoming government will think about it.

Trial Programme Offers Access To The App’s 6.5 Million Users

Dimitrios Salampasis, a leadership and entrepreneurship lecturer at Swinburne University, told The Guardian that CBA may be moving cautiously to avoid reputational damage. Dr. Slampasis stated that balancing risk, brand equity, and regulatory clarity will be crucial so as to minimize disruption in CBA’s current business model, referring to the recent price slump across the crypto markets inferable from the breakdown of Terra.

Last November, the CBA turned into Australia’s initial significant bank to give digital money administrations through its versatile application. The trial programme offered access to the app’s 6.5 million users once it was completely implemented. Those plans are currently on hold indefinitely.

thecoinrepublic.com