Blockchain-Based Virtual Reality World Decentraland Launches Testnet Network

By James Gray·23 September 2015·2 min read

Key Points

Australia's competition watchdog has moved to open a probe into whether the nation's major lenders are coordinating the termination of accounts belonging to cryptocurrency firms and participants, as c

Australia's competition watchdog has moved to open a probe into whether the nation's major lenders are coordinating the termination of accounts belonging to cryptocurrency firms and participants, as confirmed by broadcaster ABC. The inquiry was prompted by Queensland Nationals Senator Matthew Canavan, who penned correspondence to the ACCC's leadership flagging concerns about what he views as systematic exclusion. Canavan characterized the simultaneous account closures as suspicious, saying: "It appears to me to be an amazing coincidence that a number of large banks have all of a sudden decided to deny services to fledgling Bitcoin and digital currency operators." He went on to argue the financial institutions viewed crypto operators as nascent business threats. "They are clearly competitors to their business model, albeit small ones at this stage, and there are clear laws that we've got against businesses refusing to supply other businesses if they do so for an anti-competitive purpose," he stated. "I think the ACCC should be asking the banks some serious questions about why they've done this and on what legal grounds they believe that they should not be providing services to Bitcoin operators." Labor Senator Sam Dastyari echoed support for the investigation, contending that financial institutions were weaponizing government protections to discriminate against the emerging sector. Dastyari remarked: "You have an APRA arrangement that affectively means they're too big to fail. You have up to $750 billion worth of their deposits being guaranteed – all of this provided by the Australian people as an implicit subsidy, that implicit subsidy doesn't exist so that they can behave in a way that stifles and stops growing industries in this country."

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Multiple Australian cryptocurrency traders have reported being systematically shut out by major financial players including Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB. Known as the "Bitcoin Babe," operator Michaela Juric detailed her experience to ABC: "I've been blacklisted from Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne, Bank SA, Bank of Queensland, Rams and BT Superfund. I can't open or hold any accounts with those institutions because I deal with bitcoin." Trader Daniel Wilczynski faces a far more dire situation, having shuttered his business entirely after his accounts disappeared. He explained: "Everything was going well, but my first bank closure was by NAB and then I had ANZ close, and then Westpac and then about two months ago the Commonwealth Bank closed my bank accounts."

The scale of the phenomenon extends to at least 17 bitcoin-related businesses across Australia. Firms such as Bit Trade and Buyabitcoin have received written notification from lenders including Westpac and Commonwealth Bank advising of account terminations, with no reasoning provided. Ron Tucker, who leads The Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association, emphasized that financial institutions have declined to clarify their decisions or engage in dialogue about potential remedies.

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