Westpac, ANZ and NAB aren’t planning a bitcoin crackdown … yet
Australia’s largest banks have confirmed they do not currently have plans to block their customers from buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
This differs from the approach taken by UK-based Lloyds Banking Group, and US banks JP Morgan, Bank of America and Citi.Those banks, in recent days, have announced they will ban their customers from using credit cards to purchase digital currencies.
ANZ’s response
ANZ told the ABC that it “does not prohibit customers buying digital or cryptocurrencies, or accepting them as a form of payment”.
However, ANZ’s spokesperson said: “We monitor transactions for unusual behaviour to protect against potential fraud and in line with our regulatory responsibilities.”
“We do not bank [with] businesses that operate as issuers, dealers or exchanges of digital or cryptocurrency.”
Its reasoning was that “these businesses are currently unregulated and therefore not within ANZ policy”.
What NAB said
National Australia Bank suggested it might not allow certain cryptocurrency transactions to proceed if security concerns arise.
“ASIC advises that, as most of the virtual currency exchange platforms are generally not regulated, customers may not be protected or have any legal recourse if the platform fails or is hacked,” NAB’s spokesperson said.
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