Aussie banks say crypto restrictions 'largest lever' in scam prevention
Banking executives in Australia have said that 40% of all scam profits “touch” crypto , meaning bank restrictions are “the single largest lever [banks] have to reduce this impact on our customers.” On June 8, Australia’s Commonwealth Bank (CBA) said it will start to decline or pause certain payments being made to crypto exchanges “to help protect customers from scam risks associated with making certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.” Another bank in Australia, Westpac, is also trialing cryptocurrency restrictions and recently banned customers from transferring money to Binance in a bid to curtail scams. At Australian Blockchain Week on Monday, an executive from CBA shared why these payment restrictions were made. “One in three of the dollars that are scammed from Australians touch crypto, one in three,” said Sophie Gilder, CBA’s managing director of blockchain and digital assets. This figure could be higher at 40% according to a portfolio manager at ANZ (an...