Commonwealth Bank Says Crypto ‘Already Mainstream’

Crypto has entered the mainstream, according to the managing director of Blockchain and Digital Assets at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Since allowing users to buy and trade digital assets last year, Australia’s largest bank by total assets has seen a considerable increase in crypto activity on its app.

Sophie Gilder, managing director of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Commbank, said the response to the bank’s app has been “overwhelmingly positive” on the opening day of Blockchain Australia’s five-day Blockchain Week conference in Sydney.

The app’s success follows Commonwealth Bank’s secondary market trading of blockchain bonds in 2019

The app represents a significant step forward in the country’s consumer adoption of the underlying technology.

Gilder, along with several other representatives from Macquarie, Visa and JPMorgan said their business decisions around crypto products were being driven largely by consumers in a “rapidly evolving” environment.

“About 900,000 of our customers have transferred money to crypto exchanges over the last two years,” said Gilder. “One in three Australians have a banking relationship with CBA. So we see this activity happening, our customers are already there, already in this space. You can say it’s already mainstream based on our stats.”

Gilder also said that while the feedback had been generally positive the biggest complaint of the bank’s app came from customers who had not yet been let into the pilot.

CBA announced back in November it would be launching its crypto pilot program to select customers enabling them the ability to buy, sell and hold digital assets, directly through the bank’s CommBank app. After launching in December, the bank became the first of its kind in Australia to offer crypto products directly to its customers.

In order to assist in its design and custody service, crypto exchange Gemini and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis were brought in to assist. There are currently 10 crypto assets for purchase including bitcoin and ether.

Chainalysis’ suite of tools allows the bank to “analyse exactly what’s happening on the blockchain,” Gilder said who added, “five years ago you may not have had that level of confidence.”

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