The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance CRC (DFCRC) announced the launch of a pilot phase to test settlements of tokenized assets.
The RBA and DFCRC revealed the start of the pilot phase of Project Acacia, during which test settlements of tokenized assets will be conducted using innovative payment instruments.
Project Acacia is a joint research initiative by the RBA and DFCRC aimed at exploring the potential of digital forms of money and DLT infrastructure in the development of wholesale tokenized asset markets. The project is supported by the Australian Treasury, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
A total of 24 cases were selected for testing:
- 19 pilots with real transactions;
- 5 conceptual cases simulating deals in a test environment.
Assets under testing cover debt instruments, private markets, trade receivables, and carbon credits. Settlement instruments include stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and a pilot version of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The CBDC will be issued on a range of public and private DLT platforms, including Hedera, Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, Canvas Connect, and EVM-compatible networks.
To ensure testing flexibility, ASIC has granted participants a special regulatory exemption allowing real transactions with a limited number of financial institutions without full compliance with current regulations. This facilitates safe testing of new settlement mechanisms, including CBDC usage.
Participants include:
- Australia’s largest banks;
- infrastructure and financial solution providers;
- digital asset providers;
- FinTech companies and DLT solution developers.
Interim results are expected in Q1 2026.
The RBA views the project as a strategically important element for researching digital money and improving financial system efficiency. According to DFCRC estimates, the economic potential of implementing such technologies in settlements and cross-border payments may reach 19 billion Australian dollars annually. Project Acacia will form the basis for developing practical settlement models for tokenized assets, including real-world CBDC application within market infrastructure.
In September 2024, the Reserve Bank of Australia discontinued development of a retail CBDC version and launched a program to develop a wholesale digital Australian dollar (eAUD).
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