The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced plans to launch 14 pilot projects that will explore potential use cases and economic benefits of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Australia.

The country’s central bank is collaborating with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), along with partners including Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Mastercard.

The DFCRC is a 10-year, $180 million research program funded by industry partners, universities and the Australian Government, through the Cooperative Research Centres Program. Its stated mission is to bring together stakeholders in the finance industry, academia and regulatory sectors to develop and optimise opportunities of the financial markets.

The RBA solicited use case submissions from a range of industry participants, with 14 selected to participate in the pilot. These selected use cases include offline payments, nature-based asset trading, high quality liquid assets securities trading, interoperable CBDC for trusted Web3 commerce and more.

Commenting on the news, Brad Jones, assistant governor (financial system) at the RBA said: “We are delighted with the enthusiastic engagement by industry in this important research project. It has also been encouraging that the use case providers that have been invited to participate in the pilot span a wide range of entities in the Australian financial system, from smaller fintechs to large financial institutions.

“The pilot and broader research study that will be conducted in parallel will serve two ends – it will contribute to hands-on learning by industry, and it will add to policy makers’ understanding of how a CBDC could potentially benefit the Australian financial system and economy.”

Australia is one of a number of countries looking to invest in CBDCs, with other nations such as the UK, USA and China all developing their own similar initiatives to capitalise on digital currencies.

Share Story: