Report: Australia Explores CBDC Use Cases in Four Key Areas, Says Technology is “Some Years Away”
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country’s de-facto central bank, released the findings of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, which has the potential “to support increased efficiency and resilience in some areas of the payments system.”
Per a report released on Wednesday, the central bank warned that more research is required to deal with risks, including “legal, regulatory, technical and operational considerations.” Given this, the bank noted,
“It is likely that any serious policy consideration of issuing a CBDC in Australia is still some years away.”
The central bank debuted the research project last year in partnership with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) exploring the potential use cases of a digital Australian dollar (eAUD).
The report noted that “a CBDC could be viewed more as an enabling complement to, rather than substitute for, private sector innovation.”
The research involved a total of 16 use cases submitted by industry participants from March to May this year, which included offline payments by ANZ bank, corporate bond settlement by Australian Bonds Exchange and tokenized FX settlement by Canvas Digital.
The central bank issued a limited-scale ‘pilot’ CBDC in a ring-fenced environment that involved selected industry participants.
“Unlike earlier projects where the CBDC was purely a proof-of-concept, the pilot CBDC was issued as a real legal claim on the RBA.”
The study highlighted four key areas, where a CBDC could potentially deliver benefits to Australian households and businesses.
Brad Jones, RBA assistant governor, said on Wednesday that the insights revealed how a CBDC “could potentially unlock benefits for the Australian financial system and the wider
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