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ARTICLE · 04 DECEMBER 2024

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RBA announces Project Acacia to test use cases for wholesale central bank digital currency

Piper Alderman
Piper Alderman
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Piper Alderman

Piper Alderman

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Project represents a significant step towards understanding & implementing digital money in wholesale markets.

AustraliaTechnology
Steven Pettigrove
Steven Pettigrove
Jake Huang
Jake Huang
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The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has released a consultation paper outlining a joint research initiative by the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) to explore how different forms of digital money and associated infrastructure could support the development of wholesale tokenised asset markets in Australia.

The consultation is the public phase of a project dubbed Project Acacia, which builds on the lessons from the RBA's central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) pilot last year, by focusing on opportunities to uplift the efficiency, transparency and resilience of wholesale markets through tokenised money and new settlement infrastructure. At the Intersekt Fintech Conference in September, the RBA announced details of the project, which reflects its strategic commitment to exploring a wholesale, rather than a retail, CBDC.

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