Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial Systems) at the Reserve Bank of Australia, said Australia is focused on wholesale CBDC opportunities, industry outreach and improved regulation to develop the potential of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). announced a three-year initiative to explore (RBA), said Audience at an industry event in September.
The Australian Digital Money Work Plan is an initiative focused on assessing the feasibility of new forms of digital money and payments infrastructure to improve the efficiency, transparency and resilience of wholesale markets.・Start with the general launch of Acacia. Mr Jones said the project would build on lessons learned from Australia’s CBDC pilot in 2023 and could include cross-border applications with regional central banks.
Following Project Acacia, the RBA plans to launch an industry and academic CBDC advisory forum covering retail and wholesale CBDC issues in the first half of 2025. These events aim to foster dialogue with industry and academia on CBDC issues, and will enable the RBA and Treasury to better understand a range of monetary policy issues related to digital money. He said.
The third initiative will begin in 2025 and will include the introduction of legal reforms to strengthen Australia’s regulatory sandbox and clarify regulatory arrangements for stablecoins and other types of digital assets. These reforms are designed to foster financial innovation, including solutions involving digital money and infrastructure, and will be implemented based on feedback and suggestions from the community, Jones said.
Finally, from the second half of 2025 to 2027, the RBA and Treasury will shift their focus to retail CBDCs. Mr Jones said these final stages would include public engagement on retail CBDCs and the launch of a series of “deliberate workshops” on retail CBDCs with the Australian community. It also includes the release of a follow-up report on retail CBDCs. Jones said the report, expected to be released in 2027, will include the latest feedback from community engagement and will help regulators further understand the impact of various design options for potential retail CBDC systems. He said he would be able to conduct an investigation.
Mainly wholesale market
The RBA, in collaboration with the Digital Financial Cooperation Research Center (DFCRC), Completed A joint research project on CBDC will begin in August 2023. The project involves the central bank issuing a limited-scale pilot CBDC representing an actual legal claim to the RBA, which will explore how the CBDC will deliver payment services for Australian households and businesses. It was used by selected industry participants to demonstrate how it can be enhanced.
According to the RBA, this project has provided valuable insight into how Australia’s CBDC could be used to improve the functionality of payment systems, perhaps alongside other innovations in digital money. Programmable payments, atomic payments in tokenized asset markets, and offline payments were highlighted as areas where tokenized money could add value.
The RBA will further explore CBDC and then released A new report will be published in September 2024 summarizing the research to date. The report concludes that a wholesale CBDC, alongside other forms of digital money and infrastructure upgrades, has the potential to deliver tangible benefits and significantly enhance the capabilities of Australia’s wholesale market. are.
The next key policy issue revolves around how best to support tokenization in wholesale markets, particularly regarding the role of the public and private sectors. One option is public sector-led wholesale CBDC issuance or upgrading existing infrastructure to support tokenized payments using Exchange Settlement Account (ESA) balances. Another path involves private sector-led innovation in digital money and the development of new forms of ledgers. Finally, a third path involves a hybrid of public and private sector innovation in digital money and supporting infrastructure.
However, when it comes to retail CBDCs, the RBA says there has not yet been a clear public interest case because Australians have generally benefited sufficiently from the functionality and resilience of current retail payment systems. . Nevertheless, the RBA has said the government is prepared to reassess this stance over time.
