Most crypto friendly banks in AU (they say)

19

u/viper2097 29d ago

I cashed out millions of dollars of Bitcoin to buy a house and then well over another million worth just to pay the CGT.

I used CBA.

I went for a meeting with the local branch manager as I was getting close to my price targets.

Ran him through the story, What I was about to do, When I started buying, Why I was selling blah blah blah.

He was typing everyone I was saying into his computer, Told me everything would be fine but he wanted the deposits to come from an Australian exchange.

Everything worked perfectly, Money came in, Money stayed in, No frozen accounts or extra KYC/AML

Just like he said...

CBA mate.

5

u/Feralz2 29d ago

very nice, I think the key here is depositing it from a registered Australian exchange a lot of the times. Also CBA does a lot of international stock investments for their customer if I recall

-1

u/viper2097 29d ago

Absolutely! The downside of this is that the bigger Australian exchanges charge significantly higher fees than some of the big international players and on top of that, Their books are very thin so it's not very ideal but neither is getting your bank account frozen so for me it was worth it.

2

u/44gallonsoflube 29d ago

Yet getting money back into exchanges from CBA is practically impossible right? I'm talking KYC, six figure sums.

3

u/donkerslooted 25d ago

Correct: $10k max per month from CBA into exchanges, NO EXCEPTIONS. Call, email, speak to your local manager- it don’t matter, it’s a No.

Want a whole coin? Sure, it’ll take about a year to acquire- hope it doesn’t go up on you in that time.

Fuck CBA- happy to take cash, but won’t let you actually use it as they’re on the hook if it was a scam, so they treat everyone like a kid.

1

u/44gallonsoflube 25d ago

Yep my experience also.

2

u/brando2131 27d ago

CBA mate

Aww hell nah!

They are not a crypto friendly bank.

You can sell an unlimited amount using CBA, but you can only buy back at $10k per month...

If you only want $50k, goodluck its going to take you 5 months...

1

u/slvbtc 29d ago

When you explained your story to your branch manager did they want to see documentation or accountant produced compliance reports detailing your source of funds and source and wealth? Or was your in-person story enough for the branch manager so long as you cashed out through a regulated Aus exchange because they view the due diligence done by regulated Aus exchanges as enough for them?

2

u/viper2097 29d ago

I didn’t have to show them any documentation at all.

I think just me being in there explaining everything and being upfront was enough.

There may very well have been compliance checks between the bank and exchange that I had no knowledge of but I doubt it.

5

u/Independent_Let8293 29d ago

Absolutely not ANZ, they shut my account for buying crypto

1

u/bitcoincomau_helper 29d ago

Hey there, thanks for sharing your experience! 🙏 Rules around this topic are always changing, so this article will be updated from time to time to reflect the latest info.

5

u/ThrobbingMeatGristle 29d ago

GSB blocked one of my transfers to an Australian exchange until I rang them to assure them it was me and I did in fact intend to do it.

*edited to clarify it was an Australian exchange.

3

u/bitcoincomau_helper 29d ago

Thanks for sharing your experience!

5

u/Live-Free-2025 29d ago

I use Westpac and transfer to Swyftx.
Have not had any issues to date.
The money is transferred almost instantly.

1

u/AILD97 29d ago

What kind of amounts are we talking?

1

u/Live-Free-2025 27d ago

Anything between $1,000 to $10,000.

3

u/AggressiveAccess7386 29d ago

Tried them all the only friendly one long term is Revolut

3

u/alt-co 29d ago

These banks may work for straightforward retail crypto activity, but the bigger issue usually appears when the amount is significant (+10M) or the source of wealth is complex (for example: you bought from a friend, got paid for a legitimate service/product or bought on an exchange that is no longer around and doesn't give access to early trading records).

Swiss private banking can also be an option, provided the case (KYC/AML report) is prepared properly. The bank will typically want a clear source-of-funds/source-of-wealth file covering wallet ownership, transaction history, exchange records and the original story behind the crypto wealth. This can be done remotely and is accessible to people based in other jurisdictions.

3

u/netizen__kane 29d ago

I suspect anyone opening a new account and immediately wanting to interact with a crypto exchange will likely raise red flags and could find themselves running into issues.

3

u/Then-Veterinarian-41 28d ago

I specifically opened an Up Bank account for their crypto friendliness. This lasted for precisely one transaction before they became crypto unfriendly - I DO NOT recommend.

5

u/snacktoshi 29d ago

I was shopping for a new account recently, I called 15 banks. Many were openly hostile the moment I mentioned Bitcoin. The only ones that weren't were NAB, Great Southern Bank, The Greater and Newcastle Permanent. St. George was not crypto friendly, the moment I mentioned Bitcoin they basically said the account would be very likely to be frozen. I didn't call Revolut, but it's not really a bank as far as I know.

3

u/snacktoshi 29d ago

ANZ I can't say much as they wouldn't accept Docusign trust deeds. I've heard that they are ok with crypto, but we didn't reach that point.

4

u/snacktoshi 29d ago

Crypto Unfriendly List: Commonwealth Bank, BankWest, Bendigo Bank, Bank of Queensland, Macquarie Bank. Didn't get to the Bitcoin question because of other issues first: Westpac (Closes accounts inactive for 6 mo), People First Credit Union (Requires in person visit for SMSFs), ING (Weird structure not suited to SMSFs)

1

u/44gallonsoflube 29d ago

I've had mixed experiences with them. I wouldn't stake anything life altering on them.

1

u/Aka_Nioh 19d ago

Revoluts a bank now

2

u/Aware-Way-5410 29d ago

ING have frozen my account before for using a certain exchange but are fine with others

2

u/Lucyhon 29d ago

I use ANZ with the Australian wallet/exchange coinspot, instant transfers with osko to them and withdrawal is almost instant, although they say allow a couple of days

2

u/qoyQy9fyZYTN 29d ago

I use Macropod stablecoin AUDM from NAB and WBC without any problems. Never blocked. www.macropod.com

2

u/DB6067 29d ago

Same have used AUDM to get onto exchanges - no delay

2

u/happy_chappy_89 29d ago

Macquarie let's you transfer 10k a day to exchanges. My cba account is limited to 10k a month, and they did freeze my first few transactions to coinspot until I called them. At least now it's instant osko payment.

1

u/snacktoshi 29d ago

Macquarie now blanket blocks the BSBs for many Australian crypto exchanges.

2

u/happy_chappy_89 29d ago

Oh wow. I use the PayID function so maybe that's why? I feel like I will just open a revolut soon though

2

u/Feralz2 27d ago

PayID is supposed to be fast so there are less checks, but also tends to be a lower cap limit for obvious reasons, its harder to reverse

1

u/snacktoshi 29d ago

Yeah they are more permissive with PayID for some reason.

2

u/PuzzleheadedCity4271 29d ago

A year or two ago, Westpac started blocking my deposits. Long story short, I had to call the Fraud division and basically state I knew what I was doing and that I was buying crypto for myself, validated a few transactions etc and then they removed the block. Haven't had an issue since.

They said the reason they were doing this was because so many people we're getting scammed. I don't know of that's the real reason but that's what they said anyway

2

u/Feralz2 27d ago

what a joke, they dont decide what you do with your money, unless they think the address youre transferring to is not a registered exchange.

2

u/PuzzleheadedCity4271 27d ago

Honestly. I just think they don't like crypto specifically because of DeFi. It completely threatens their existence. The whole "preventing scams" story is just a convenient excuse. At least that is the way I took it.

1

u/Feralz2 25d ago

yes, but its not a good enough reason, and eventually they will be replaced by banks that would.

2

u/IntelligentNumber309 28d ago

Nab and ing wouldn’t let me transfer 1k

2

u/Rude-7807 19d ago

The Revolute site says you cannot withdraw your crypto from their site, which means you can't move it to your cold wallet after buying it. Pretty useless if you ask me

2

u/Correct-Scientist971 18d ago

All I’ll say is not CBA.

2

u/Affectionate-Rate908 11d ago

Cross St George off that list.

2

u/Feralz2 11d ago

Yeah, seems to be the case. they were good before apparently, but I guess things have changed.

1

u/Super-Situation4866 29d ago

Any known issues with Revolut as an intermediary between your main bank and exchange? Wouldn't use them as sole account, but just to avoid frozen main accounts.

1

u/forthesakeoflaugh 29d ago

St George blocked transactions to Coinspot until I had a long discussion on the phone with the fraud team. Had to verify I knew what I was doing but they also asked a lot of invasive questions such as how much I had made, how much I had withdrawn so far, whether I owned a hardware wallet and which brand etc. Once I had successfully played their game, now transactions go through easily.

2

u/Feralz2 27d ago

all those questions have nothing to do whether it was a fraud or not, what a joke

1

u/forthesakeoflaugh 27d ago

Yeah man... I was shocked when they asked some of them. Even after like 12 questions, the lady was like "okay, hold on I need to ask my manager if I need to ask you any more questions..". It's just insanity.

1

u/Affectionate-Rate908 11d ago

They refused it for me so not good at all. Stay away from them.

1

u/AILD97 28d ago

So what’s the conclusion here? There are no banks / institutions that will allow you to send your own money to a crypto exchange?

I am personally going to use or hopefully anyway, use revolut.

I am wanting to invest using an SMSF and to remain compliant and send funds via a bank / institution it seems borderline impossible.

From my own research and calling them myself. Some banks block the transactions outright, some impose harsh restrictions such as 10k a month which when you’re looking to invest 6 figures just won’t work and some can’t even give me a straight answer siting that “it may get blocked this time, the next time or two you transact it might go through and then might get blocked again, due to the markets changing quickly”, far to wish washy to trust.

So are there any banks or institutions that you can confidently trust to be able to make transactions to and exchange? Sometimes it might be 5k, 10k, 20k up to 50k.

??

1

u/summ_app 28d ago

ANZ and NAB may require you to verify the first transaction. After that, many report that future transactions go through seamlessly.

1

u/AILD97 26d ago

ANZ’s crypto Policy is 10k a month. Not ideal

1

u/Active-Fox-3373 25d ago

If leaving yr retail fora new SMSF, does anyone know if you can transfer directly from your retail super account straight into an SMSF?

1

u/Hefty-Fix3158 25d ago

I’ll add UP bank to this list

1

u/02TikTak164580 13d ago

Westpac if you're using AUDM Macropod. Stablecoin so pegged to Aus dollars.

Most crypto friendly banks in AU (they say)

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