Australia's Bendigo Bank Blocks High-Risk Payments to Crypto Exchanges

Australia's Bendigo Bank has become the fourth major bank in the country to announce blocks for "high-risk crypto payments," citing the need to protect customers from investment scams.

The bank said on July 31 that it implemented new rules on instant payments to crypto exchanges that add "some friction to certain genuine payments," according to its head of fraud, Jason Gordon.

It cited combatting fraudulent payments and enhancing protections for its 2.3 million customers as reasons for the blocks.

A Bendigo Bank spokesperson said that certain instant crypto transactions that it identifies as higher risk will be blocked, but the bank is not disclosing further details at this time.

The spokesperson said it identifies high-risk transactions by employing "a combination of factors". The bank said it was not disclosing what exchanges may be affected by its changes.

Bendigo Bank’s blocks follow similar actions in recent months from three of Australia's Big Four banks — Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac.

(Source: CoinTelegraph)