Australia’s central bank introduces digital currency

Last updated on August 10th, 2022 at 04:05 am

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said on Tuesday that it will begin a research program investigating the case for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Australia. The program will run for one year and will focus on the possible economic benefits that a CBDC could offer.

Within the context of the program, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is collaborating with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), which is an industry organisation supported by the Australian government.

The purpose of the project is to gain a better understanding of some of the CBDC’s technological, legal, and regulatory aspects, as well as the identification of novel use cases and business models that could be supported by the issuing of a CBDC.

It will include the construction of a trial CBDC program on a smaller scale, which will function in an environment that is ring-fenced, and it will involve a pilot CBDC program that has a meaningful claim on the RBA.

Participants in the industry who are interested in developing specific use cases will be invited to do so in order to demonstrate how a CBDC could be utilized to provide new and value-added payment and settlement services to businesses and families.