The Reserve Bank of Australia will pilot a wholesale CBDC for asset tokenization in 2025
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has launched a consultation with the Digital Finance Collaborative Research Centre (DFCRC) on wholesale CBDCs and asset tokenization, with a response deadline of 11 December. As part of Project Acacia, the RBA is inviting industry members to provide feedback and participate in trials of wholesale tokenization use cases in 2025, and possibly join industry advisory groups.
In addition to wholesale CBDCs, Project Acacia will also explore the use of private forms of digital currencies, including tokenized deposits.
Previous RBA and DFCRC CBDC experiments covered both wholesale and retail CBDCs issued on RBA-controlled infrastructure. In the latest trial, RBA will consider issuing pilot wCBDCs on third-party blockchain networks, similar to Project Helvetia in Switzerland.
The current phase of Project Acacia will focus on domestic wholesale settlements.