“Australian bankers are feeling the pinch as the Bitcoin community grows ever larger in the country, and the banks are planning to spend AU$1 billion on an upgrade that will decrease processing time.
The number of merchants that are accepting Bitcoin, and of exchanges that are buying and selling virtual currencies, grows every day. The future of Bitcoin, especially as the currency relates to taxes, is still up in the air in Australia, but bankers are already seeing a potential threat, unless they improve their own services. ANZ chief Philip Chronican summed up some of the concerns that banks in Australia are currently addressing:
Banks have certainly embraced computer technology, but they still find themselves falling far behind other paradigms, especially when traditional payment platforms such as PayPal, and virtual currency platforms such as BitPay, are able to instantly transfer huge sums. Merchants are often forced to wait for days after each sale before their funds are deposited in banks.”
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