In recent weeks, it feels to me like the tide is turning here in Australia. I'm not refering in this case to our governments (State and Federal) and their authoritarian tendancies - that is a whole other story. What it feels like is that Crypto is gaining acceptance, and that the financial sector is scrambling to participate and remain relevant. I've even seen comments along those lines from some of the major Australian financial establishment.
Currently, it feels to me like crypto is somewhere between "them fighting us" and us winning. Here are a few examples:
The Commonwealth Bank
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) announced yesterday that it will begin offering cryptocurrency services to its clients very soon. In a first for the Australian banking sector, CBA are partnering with Gemini and Chainalysis to offer Crypto products within the Commbank personal banking app. You can find the banks full announcement here. Regardless of how you feel about a traditional financial institution (via Gemini) custodying BTC and other crypto's, exposing the sector to the banks 6.4 million customers has got to be beneficial for mainstream adoption and acceptance.
Changing their tune.
The interesting thing is that this marks a major change in direction for the CBA. I have accounts with the CBA, and in the past I have been completely blocked from buying Crypto. Not even with my own money (let alone a credit card). I have tried in the past through Coinbase, Moonpay and another fiat on ramp service I can't remember the name of, and each time the CBA has blocked the transaction.
Many Australians have had accounts closed by CBA for involvement in crypto. Indeed, their Twitter announcement was relatively well ratioed by a combination of normies that have swallowed the "Bitcoin is bad for the environment" narrative, and former CBA customers that have been de-banked due to crypto involvement. The Facebook post has a similar mix of quite negative sentiment.
It is highly likely that the other major banks in Australia will follow suit, in one way or another,
First, but not alone.
The crypto landscape in Australia feels like its shifting again to a pro-crypto bias overall. The CBA joins Australian "buy now, pay later" firms Zippay and Afterpay (soon to be acquired by Square Inc) who have also announced plans to branch out into crypto. Zippay explicitly, announced earlier this year. Afterpay by virtue of the Square partnership, a company well know for it's ties to crypto.
It is also speculated that the other major banks will follow the lead of the CBA. Nothing has been announced yet, but with most things in the Australian banking oligopoly, where one goes the others soon follow. Westpac recently revealed massive profits from holding a stake of Coinbase, and it would seem likely that some sort of arrangement there would be likely. This is just my speculation, but in my head it makes sense. Interestingly, my personal experience is that aside from CBA, my other main bank accounts are with St George - a Westpac subsidiary, and I have never had an issue buying small amounts of crypto from my account with them.
ETF's
Add in to the mix reports that ASIC has basically green lighted Bitcoin ETF products. One of the first product to hit the market, isn't really a Bitcoin or crypto ETF as such, It is a crypto company ETF. The BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF launched this week with the ASX ticker CRYP. It holds investments in a portfolio of listed crypto firms, notably including Coinbase, Microstrategy, Riot Blockchain and even Hive Blockchain Technologies (the company, not to be confused with the unrelated blockchain that this post is being made on). Whilst starting small, this fund gives regular Australian stock investors the opportunity to add a holding in some of the major players in the global crypto industry. If anyone is interested, here is their PDS for this product.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has conducted a period of consultation with the crypto industry, according to this repost by Investopedia. This report says that ASIC has approved spot ETF's in principle for Bitcoin and Ethereum, and potentially other Alt-coins down the track. It is expected that specific ETF's will soon launch on the back of this general guidance.
An recent report was handed down by a Senate committee, outlining a broad approach for how Australia can adapt to the digital landscape currently unfolding. You can find the final report here. It cam up with a list of recommendations that included issues such as Capital Gains Tax, A company tax "discount" of 10% if miners use renewable energy, and consideration of an Australian CBDC.
Overall, these developments feel like a move in the right direction for the crypto industry in Australia, and a sign of growing mainstream acceptance and adoption. I personally can't wait till I can add a Bitcoin ETF into my retirement savings account.
Thanks for reading,
JK.