According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR) on April 6, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has hampered the launch of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) mobile app which aims to offer crypto services available to all of its 6.5 million customers. ASIC has raised concerns about the launch due to consumer safeguards in the target market and product disclosures.
The CBA’s crypto goods began as a trial late last year, with the intention of expanding to all users of its app. It now looks like a second pilot is in the works.
At the Australian Financial Review’s Cryptocurrency Summit on April 6, ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour discussed her commission’s new attention on crypto, despite objections that it falls outside of ASIC’s scope. Despite the fact that crypto-assets are not financial products regulated by the SEC, she expressed concern:
“Consumers may be investing in an environment where they are not afforded the same level of protection that applies to financial products and services.”
Senator Andrew Bragg, pushing back against new ASIC guidelines that restrict most of the work financial influencers undertake, argued that ASIC’s regulations for financial products cannot be applied to crypto assets since bitcoin is not considered a financial product under Australian law.
Armour said in her address that ASIC’s capacity to fully control crypto-assets “depends on whether they fit inside the legislative framework for financial goods and services,” which she described as “a question for Parliament.”
Last November, the CBA announced its plan to provide crypto services, making it the first of the country’s “big four” banks to do so. According to Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas, the move would be “extraordinarily essential.”
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