Australia’s Central Bank announced on Tuesday that it was launching a one-year research program for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Australia, centering on the economic benefits the project might bring.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is partnering with a government-backed industry group, the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), to launch the program.
The digital currency project will identify innovative use cases and business models that the issuance of a CBDC could support and also understand some of its technological, legal, and regulatory considerations.
The project will demand the development of a limited-scale CBDC driver that will operate in a restricted environment and involve a pilot CBDC that is a real claim on the RBA.
The Interested industry participants will also be invited to expand specific use cases that demonstrate how a CBDC can be used to provide innovative and value-added payment and settlement services to households and businesses.