National Australia Bank (NAB) is set to become the second “Big 4” Australian bank to launch an Australian dollar-pegged stablecoin on the Ethereum network. Set to launch sometime in mid-2023, the AUDN stablecoin is aimed at streamlining cross-border remittances and carbon credit trading, according to a Jan. 18 report from the Australian Financial Review (AFR). NAB’s chief innovation officer Howard Silby said the decision to mint the AUDN stablecoin on Ethereum — which is backed 1:1 by the Australian dollar (AUD) — was based on their belief that blockchain infrastructure will play a key role in the next evolution of …

As the struggle for regulatory clarity down under rages on, Binance Australia’s CEO Leigh Travers thinks that such a framework will prove the crypto industry “holds itself to a higher standard” than many believe. Travers spoke with Cointelegraph on Tuesday about the current state of local crypto regulatory efforts and how the opportunities available in the industry are restricted by the lack of clarity. That lack of clarity was cited as the reason why the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has indefinitely postponed a pilot program for its crypto trading services last month. Although there are no rules on the …

Executives at two of Australia’s “big four” banks have ruled out allowing retail customers to trade cryptocurrency on their platforms, with one reasoning that customers don’t understand “basic financial well-being.” Speaking at the Australian Financial Review Banking Summit on Tuesday Maile Carnegie, executive for retail banking at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), said that from speaking to retail customers, she believed “the vast majority of them don’t understand really basic financial well-being concepts.” “Are we really going to make it easier and less friction and implicitly endorse speculating on crypto when they don’t understand basic financial well-being? The …

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has put its plans for a second pilot program of crypto trading services on hold indefinitely and cut off access to those in the first round of testing. CBA sent Cointelegraph a transcript of a Tuesday bank briefing where CEO Matt Comyn said that he was still waiting on regulatory clarity. He also said that he was “working with a number of regulators very closely, as you would imagine, about the appropriate treatment of this particular product:” “Our intention still, at this stage, is to restart the pilot, but there are still a couple …

Big 4 bank ANZ has become the first Australian bank to mint an Australia dollar (AUD) pegged stablecoin named “A$DC.” But rival bank NAB also has its own stablecoin project which is expected to launch by the end of the year. ANZ is working with local regulators such as AUSTRAC and APRA to get the project signed off in a compliant manner, and has already run a test transaction on the Ethereum blockchain with its institutional partner Victor Smorgon Group, the family office tied to the billionaire Smorgon family. According to a March 24 report from the Australian Financial Review …

Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx has penned a major three-year sponsorship deal with the Australian National Rugby League (NRL). Swyftx is registered in Australia and New Zealand and offers trading services for around 300 digital assets. The firm was founded in 2018 and the NRL deal marks another major milestone for promoting the local crypto and blockchain sector to sports fans, with the Australian Football League women’s competition already signing with Crypto.Com for $25 million over five years. The latest deal will cover NRL, Women’s NRL (NRLW), State of Origin and All-Star games. There is also an option for a fourth-year …

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a report into its two-year research project into wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that emphasized the benefits of digitizing and autonomizing manual, paper-based banking processes using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The report marks the conclusion of the two-year project named “Project Atom” that was conducted in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB), Perpetual, and ConsenSys, along with additional input from King & Wood Mallesons. Commenting on Project Atom, RBA’s assistant governor (Financial System) Michele Bullock noted that it “demonstrated the potential for a wholesale CBDC and …

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) says it can’t rely on crypto investors to keep track of their crypto transactions and profits — even though most investors try their best. Speaking at the 14th International ATAX Conference on Tax Administration conference on Nov. 23, ATO commissioner Chris Jordan stressed that many new crypto investors may not entirely understand their tax reporting obligations: “In a sector that is growing rapidly with new investors, we can’t rely on taxpayers knowing they need to keep records of their investment income and capital gains and disclose it on their tax returns.” “Our main concern is …

Australian superannuation fund Rest Super is set to become the first retirement fund in the country to invest in cryptocurrencies. The fund has more than $46.8 billion worth of assets under management (AUM) and around 1.8 million members. Superannuation is the equivalent of a 401k or Individual Retirement Account in the U.S. and is compulsory for all employees. Until now the $2.4 trillion sector has been extremely cautious about cryptocurrency. During Rest Super’s annual general meeting on Nov. 23, the firm’s chief investment officer Andrew Lill told members that the company sees digital assets as an “important part” of its …

Matt Comyn, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), said that the bank is more concerned about the risks of missing out on crypto than those associated with its adoption. The CBA is set to become the first of the “big four” banks in Australia to offer crypto-based services, after the company announced on Nov. 3 that it will support the trading of 10 digital assets directly via its banking app. Speaking with Bloomberg TV on Friday, Nov. 19, Comyn was questioned on the CBA’s take on the crypto sector, with the CEO noting that: “We see risks …

One of the ANZ bank’s senior executives has told a Blockchain Australia forum that the crypto sector has grown too big to be ignored by traditional finance. The comments came a day after rival Commonwealth Bank announced that it would roll out crypto trading services for 10 digital assets via its Commbank app. The “State of Play” forum was held by Blockchain Australia on Nov. 4 and featured representatives from organizations including Mastercard, ANZ and NAB offering their take on the crypto sector in the wake of CBA’s play. Today we hosted the 'State of Play' with over 1200 registrations …

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is set to launch crypto trading services for the 6.5 million users of its CommBank app. The CBA will become the first bank in Australia to support crypto, and Blockchain Australia says it is “inevitable” that the other ‘big four’ banks including National Australia Bank (NAB), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Westpac will soon follow suit. According to a Nov. 3 announcement, the CBA has partnered with the Gemini crypto exchange and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis to launch its crypto services. The bank will launch a pilot for a limited number …