Cryptocurrency: Commonwealth Bank of Australia becomes the country’s first to offer crypto trading services

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has officially launched its cryptocurrency services for retail clients. For this, it has become the first financial institution in the country to offer blockchain-based products.

The CBA is the largest bank in Australia, and its move to jump into the crypto biz that was announced on Wednesday, Nov. 3, will make a big change in the country's banking sector since it still refused to do business related to cryptocurrency. Previously, three other smaller banks in the country, including National Australia Bank, New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, and the Westpac Banking Corp, were criticized for refusing to do business with cryptocurrency providers.

In any case, Reuters reported that Australia's Commonwealth Bank will team up with Gemini Trust Company, a New York-based crypto exchange that allows customers to buy, sell, store, and earn cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, and DeFi tokens, to be able to offer crypto trading in 10 leading digital currencies through its banking app.

Aside from Gemini, CBA also partnered with Chainalysis, a blockchain data platform, to offer the said crypto trading service to its retail clients. It was reported that both Gemini and Chainalysis allowed CBA to design a crypto exchange and custody service that it will be offering to customers. This will be an added feature in the bank's app so everyone interested can access it easily.

The bank said that the pilot of its crypto trading would begin in the coming weeks, and from there, CBA will be continuously rolling out more features in 2022 for retail customers to use. It was added that the bank is planning to give customers access to up to ten crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

"The emergence and growing demand for digital currencies from customers creates both challenges and opportunities for the financial services sector, which has seen a significant number of new players and business models innovating in this area," CBA's chief executive officer, Matt Comyn, said in an announcement. "We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what's clearly a growing customer need and provide capability, security, and confidence in a crypto trading platform."