CBA has partnered with crypto exchange and custodian, Gemini, and blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis to design a service that will be offered to customers through a new feature in the app.

The pilot will start in the coming weeks and will provide customers with access to up to ten selected crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.

Research from CBA has found a large number of its customers want to access crypto assets as an investment class and are already buying, selling and holding crypto assets through a variety of crypto exchanges.

CBA CEO Matt Comyn says: “The emergence and growing demand for digital currencies from customers creates both challenges and opportunities for the financial services sector, which has seen a significant number of new players and business models innovating in this area.

“We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what’s clearly a growing customer need and provide capability, security and confidence in a crypto trading platform.

“In looking at ways that we can support our customers, we have made the strategic decision to form an exclusive partnership in Australia with Gemini, a global leader with strong security and a track-record of serving large institutions. CBA will leverage Gemini’s crypto exchange and custody service and integrate it into the CommBank app through APIs.”

As part of its approach CBA has also partnered with Chainalysis to help compliance teams monitor and mitigate the threat of crime through crypto asset exchanges.

Says Comyn: “Customers have expressed concern regarding some of the crypto services in market today, including the friction of using third party exchanges, the risk of fraud, and the lack of trust in some new providers. This is why we see this as an opportunity to bring a trusted and secure experience for our customers."

“We remain committed to reimagining banking and will continue to bring more functionality into the CommBank app including investing and shopping,” he added.