Australian Bank Won’t Let You Buy More Than $7K Crypto Per Month

Australia’s top bank by assets, Commonwealth Bank (CBA), is enhancing customer protection aimed specifically at payments to crypto exchanges.

Starting Thursday, the bank will either reject or temporarily withhold specific payments made to crypto trading platforms. 

CBA will also implement a monthly limit of A$10,000 ($6,664) for customer payments intended for purchasing cryptocurrencies from exchanges.

James Roberts, general manager of group fraud management services at the bank, said in a statement:

“With the incidences of scams increasing and in many cases customers suffering significant losses from being scammed, the introduction of 24-hour holds, declines and limits on outbound payments to cryptocurrency exchanges will help reduce both the number of scams and the amount of money lost by customers.”

The move follows CBA’s announcement that it would share its NameCheck anti-scam technology with government organizations and other financial companies involved in payment processing in Australia. The purpose is to collectively combat scams and fraud.

Last month, another Australian bank, Westpac, initiated a trial of new customer safeguards for certain cryptocurrency payments in order to minimize losses resulting from scams. Westpac’s list of “high-risk” exchanges reportedly included Binance among the crypto platforms.

At the same time, Binance Australia notified users that it would suspend specific Australian dollar deposits.

Australia is currently grappling with the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The Labor government has recently put forth proposals to enhance enforcement measures.

However, government documents obtained through Freedom of Information laws suggest it could take more than a year to establish Australian laws that regulate the crypto industry to protect retail customers.

CBA stopped a landmark trial program last year that briefly let some users buy cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether and some DeFi tokens within its own banking app.

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