Australia’s central bank has yet to launch a digital currency project (CBDC). However, it is looking to explore the economic benefits a CBDC would offer.
- Australia’s central bank said on Tuesday it would launch a year-long research program on CBDC. The aim is to explore the potential economic benefits such digital currencies can bring.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is partnering with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center (DFCRC), a government-backed industry group, on the program.
- The project will seek to identify innovative business models and use cases that the issuance of a CBDC could support and better understand some of its technological, legal, and regulatory considerations.
- It will involve the development of a limited-scale CBDC pilot that will operate in a constrained environment, and that will involve a pilot CBDC that is a real claim to the RBA.
Meanwhile, industries interested in participating will be invited to develop specific use cases demonstrating how a CBDC could be used to provide innovative, value-added payment and settlement services to households and businesses.
