The Reserve Bank of Australia has revealed its plan to unveil a one-year research program into the case for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country. As reported, the program will be directed on discovering the economic benefits of the CBDC. The central bank revealed this development through an announcement relayed on Tuesday.
As announced, the Reserve bank of Australia intends to collaborate with an industry group, financed by the government, identified as Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre(DFCRC). The project will observe innovative use cases and models that the allotment of CBDC can promote. Also, the project tends to study some of its technological, legal, and regulatory considerations.
Additionally, the project focuses on the development of a restricted-scale CBDC pilot. As revealed, this pilot became designed to work in a ring-fenced setting. Also, the Reserve Bank of Australia plans to seek opinions from interested members of the industry. Reportedly, the opinions tends to revolve around how to utilize CBDC in availing an innovative and value-added payment. Similarly, it plans to also welcome opinions on how to avail settlement services to households and enterprises.
Reserve Bank of Australia to analyze opinions on the project
After that, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the DFCRC team plan to analyze the opinions given by the interested member of the industry. In the next few months, the reserve bank intends to furnish more details on the project. According to the Bank’s deputy governor, Michele Bullock, the scheme remains a significant step in the country’s exploration of CBDC.
Notably, the DFCRC manifested as a multi-million research project. The $180 million project became financed by industry partners, universities, and Australian government. As revealed, the project intends to bring finance stakeholders, academia, and other regulatory bodies together to create opportunities originating from the evolving markets.
Michele stated the Reserve Bank of Australia looks forward to its engagement with different industries. According to him, the outcome of the meeting will enable them understand the benefits CBDC will fetch Australia government.
As of today, Australia is not the only country working on harnessing the potential of CBDC. Recall that the Bank of Thailand, in the past week, unveiled plans to extend its scope of retail CBDC development. Reportedly, the bank plans to grossly assess how the technology would work in its financial system. The bank says it would commence the pilot testing before the end of the year.
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