Commonwealth Bank will reportedly enable its 6.5 million customers to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin directly in its banking app, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Sources close to the matter told AFR that CBA’s over 6.5 million customers would be able to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies next year, as well as view their holdings inside the main CBA banking app.
CBA is Australia’s largest bank and the country’s leading financial services provider, including retail, premium, business, and institutional banking.
If CBA goes forward with its plan to enable bitcoin purchasing through its main banking app, one-quarter of the Australian population will have frictionless access to the world’s best form of money.
But if neglected, this feature alone can hurt bitcoin adoption long term, as BTC on a banking app would function very much like an IOU and effectively undermine much of the sovereignty enabled by Bitcoin.