According to Cointelegraph, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is weighing in on the race of exploring the use cases of central bank digital currency (CBDCs) in the nation.
In doing so, it will collaborate with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) on a respective research project. The DFCRC is a $180 million research program funded by industry partners, universities and the Australian Government, which aims to bring together stakeholders in the finance industry, academia and regulatory sectors to develop the opportunities arising from the next transformation of financial markets.
The RBA stated that it will focus on “innovative use cases and business models” that could be supported by the issuance of a CBDC. The technological, legal and regulatory considerations will also be assessed in the project’s course.
According to Cointelegraph it is expected that the experiment will take roughly a year and take the form of the CBDC operating in a ring fenced environment. Here, industry stakeholders will be invited to develop specific use cases, in which the RBA and DFCRC will then evaluate results. The selected cases will participate in the pilot, resulting in a special report.
In the coming months the RBA will publish a paper with further details and insights on the project.
“This project is an important next step in our research on digital currency. We are looking forward to engaging with a wide range of industry participants to better understand the potential benefits a CBDC could bring to Australia” stated the deputy governor of the RBA, Michele Bullock.
In recent times we’ve seen Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) end up minting 30 million of A$DC (CBDC) using an ANZ built Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible smart contract deployed through the Fireblocks platform, allowing Victor Smorgon Group to buy a digital representation of Australian carbon credits. More can be read on that here.
