- Bank's 3-Year Program
- Advantages of Wholesale CBDC
- Goals of Project Acacia
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has decided not to pursue a retail CBDC for now, instead focusing its efforts on launching a wholesale CBDC.
Bank's 3-Year Program
On September 18, at the Intersekt Fintech Conference in Melbourne, RBA Assistant Governor Brad Jones presented the Australian central bank's three-year roadmap, which largely focuses on developing a wholesale CBDC. Jones confirmed that the RBA is making a strategic commitment to prioritize its work agenda on wholesale digital money and infrastructure, including wholesale CBDC, rather than retail CBDC.
Advantages of Wholesale CBDC
RBA research found that a retail CBDC offered little in terms of genuine innovation for public use in Australia, whereas a wholesale CBDC would offer several key advantages to commercial and central banks. These advantages include reducing counterparty and operational risks, increasing transparency and auditability, enhancing liquidity and transaction capabilities, and reducing intermediary and compliance costs.
Goals of Project Acacia
Jones explained that the central bank's most immediate priority is to launch the public phase of Project Acacia to explore the wholesale CBDC and tokenized commercial bank deposits. Project Acacia aims to build on the central bank's previous research into CBDCs and explore future cross-border applications with regional central banks. It also plans to establish industry and academic CBDC advisory forums, support reforms to regulatory sandboxes for financial innovation, and conduct public engagement on a retail CBDC.
The Reserve Bank of Australia continues to research the potential benefits of asset tokenization and the role of blockchain and smart contract technology in its financial operations. According to the Atlantic Council, 134 countries representing 98% of global GDP are exploring central bank digital currencies.
