Binance in the crosshairs as NAB bans ‘high-risk’ crypto exchanges

afr.com:

National Australia Bank will block payments to high-risk cryptocurrency exchanges, which is understood to include Binance, from Monday in an effort to reduce the instances of fraud and scams at the financial institution.

It continues a crackdown on digital currency at all the major banks, which say scammed money is increasingly siphoned into cryptocurrency that makes it near impossible to recover for victims. For Binance, the move heaps more pressure on to its businesses after the corporate regulator raided its offices amid a US-led regulatory crackdown on the controversial exchange.

The crypto-crackdown comes as banks face increasing pressure to do more to protect customers. Bloomberg

NAB’s head of fraud Chris Sheehan declined to name which cryptocurrency exchanges the bank was banning, instead saying it would apply to “several” in the first instance and could be expanded further in future.

“You’ve got ‘crypto exchange A’ that we have concerns with, and we’re not going to allow payments go there. If we start to see, as always happens with these criminal groups, they pivot to start targeting something else, we can change our rule settings as we go,” Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police officer, said.

Asked directly if the ban would include Binance, he said, “our approach is going to be consistent with the rest of the industry”.

The Australian Financial Review has previously reported Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank have begun blocking payments to Binance, and ANZ said late last month it would start “preventing payments being made to particular high risk cryptocurrency platforms”. These changes will limit the exchange’s ability to deposit and withdraw fiat money from the local banks.

Binance has also lost its