TechFlow News, February 3: According to a report by Decrypt, Coinbase has filed a complaint with Australia’s House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, accusing the country’s “Big Four” banks—Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, ANZ Bank, and National Australia Bank—of systematically denying financial services to legitimate cryptocurrency companies. Coinbase labeled this “debanking” as a threat to competition and economic trust.
According to Coinbase, as many as 60% of fintech firms faced denial of banking services in 2021—a problem that remains unresolved to this day. The exchange warned that, given the Big Four banks’ control over the majority of transaction accounts and payment channels, account closures effectively constitute an “unlawful regulatory ban,” excluding legitimate industries from the formal economy.
Coinbase is urging lawmakers to implement five transparency measures recommended—but never enacted—by financial regulators in 2022, including requiring banks to document reasons for debanking, disclosing those reasons to affected customers, ensuring internal dispute resolution procedures, providing at least 30 days’ notice before terminating services, and self-certifying compliance with these requirements.
