Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has halted the second pilot program for offering cryptocurrency trading services for an indefinite period and has closed access to the first, citing regulatory uncertainty, Cointelegraph reports.
CEO Matt Comyn said he remains in close dialogue with authorities regarding the proper operation of the product under development. He said there were several unresolved issues that hinder the continuation of the trials.
CBA hopes to resume the project. The executive explained that he is awaiting a regulator’s response but did not specify the timeline for the review of the application.
According to Comyn, the recent volatility of the cryptocurrency market in recent days underscored the need to pause the first pilot program. Regarding the second, concerns were raised by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission about consumer-protection provisions.
The CBA did not rule out a change in the regulatory landscape after the federal elections on May 21.
In November 2021, the bank announced that it would become the first in the country to offer clients access to digital assets. CBA announced trading of ten cryptocurrencies through the CommBank app.
In December, a PureProfile показало growth from 18.4% to 28.8% of residents who buy or hold cryptocurrencies.
In March 2022, ANZ Bank выпустил the stablecoin A$DC pegged to the Australian dollar. The project attracted interest from CBA and National Australia Bank.
Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — the full news feed, ForkLog — the most important news, infographics and opinions