The Reserve Bank of Australia announced on 2 March that it will launch a pilot of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) “in the coming months.”
In a joint statement, the institution and the Digital Finance CRC (DFCRC) announced their collaboration to “explore potential use cases and economic benefits of a [CBDC] in Australia.”
For the project’s initial stages, it would select several industry leaders to join research efforts to build use cases for CBDCs and their potential benefits.
Both institutions will pilot CBDCs for offline payments, automating taxes, and for “trusted Web3 commerce.” Banks, including the Commonwealth Bank and the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) bank, will also facilitate transactions via Mastercard.
Brad Jones, Assistant Governor of Financial Systems at the Reserve Bank of Australia, said his institution was “delighted” with the industry’s “enthusiastic engagement” in the research project.
Continuing, he said,
“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.”
