One of Australia’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges has sealed a deal with payments giant Mastercard, taking a step forward in eradicating cases of ‘debanking’ within the country’s burgeoning crypto industry.
On Tuesday, BTCMarkets - which boasts around 325,000 customers in Australia - announced that it would allow customers to buy cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum with credit or debit cards. Until this point, users had only been able to transfer money to the exchange via bank deposits.
Chief executive of BTCMarkets Caroline Bowler.Credit:Elke Meitzel
Chief executive Caroline Bowler told this masthead the partnership had been in the works for a number of years, and had been initially pursued by the exchange due to a large number of cryptocurrency users being cut off by the big four banks for trading or doing business in crypto - a process known as debanking.
“The reason why we wanted to address it was because of the issues some of our clients were experiencing in regard to debanking,” she said. “At the time we started these conversations with Mastercard it was very much a live issue.”
In recent years, many crypto-related businesses and individual crypto traders have been unfairly exiled by the big banks due to concerns over the possible use of cryptocurrency for money laundering and other crime-related activity.
The issue was dragged into focus by Senator Andrew Bragg’s parliamentary inquiry into crypto last year, which uncovered a number of debanking cases. Since then, it has become less common as the banks have started to embrace crypto, however, Ms Bowler said debanking remains an issue for some users.
“I still know people in the crypto industry who are getting debanked, even until just a couple of weeks ago,” she said. “And it was happening regularly until around six months ago.”
BTCMarkets and Mastercard’s partnership will also give the exchange access to the payment giant’s anti-fraud technologies. Ms Bowler also said further features would be rolled out for clients beyond just facilitating payments.
These include various marketing deals and Mastercard’s digital identity program, which uses distributed ledger technology similar to cryptocurrency. Richard Wormald, Mastercard’s Australasian division president said the company was excited to partner with BTCMarkets.
“The partnership will see BTC Markets leverage our technology to provide a smart, simple and safe way for consumers to top up their digital cryptocurrency wallets, delivering a frictionless e-commerce experience,” he said.
Ms Bowler said her plan was to continue partnering with major institutions to offer additional services at the exchange. However, she indicated she had reservations about any partnership with a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service such as Afterpay or Zip.
“While I do think there is a place for buy now, pay later, I’d want to look at the amount that would be involved. It’s just about being sensible with it,” she said.
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Mastercard partners with local crypto exchange in effort to tackle debanking - Sydney Morning Herald
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