RBA Launches Project Acacia to Test Wholesale CBDC and Asset Tokenization in 2025
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) have unveiled Project Acacia, a pioneering initiative to explore wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) and asset tokenization. The project, announced on November 8, 2024, invites industry participants to join trials scheduled for 2025.
The consultation phase, which runs until December 11, seeks feedback on how different forms of digital money and infrastructure could support the development of wholesale tokenized asset markets in Australia. The project will examine various settlement options, including wholesale CBDC, tokenized deposits, and reserve-backed digital currencies.
Brad Jones, RBA Assistant Governor for Financial Systems, emphasized the strategic importance of the initiative. “We’re seeking to engage with industry partners to examine how innovation in wholesale markets could be enabled by new forms of digital money and supporting infrastructure,” Jones stated. He highlighted particular interest in how tokenized asset markets could enhance the efficiency of wholesale payments and settlements, including cross-border transactions.
The project’s scope extends beyond just CBDC exploration. The RBA has completed initial research on five different settlement asset types, including existing central bank money, wholesale CBDC, deposit tokens, reserve-backed digital currency, and fiat-backed stablecoins. This comprehensive approach aims to determine which models best suit different market scenarios.
Project Acacia represents a collaborative effort across Australia’s financial regulatory landscape, with involvement from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and the Treasury. The initiative may lead to regulatory changes that could be tested within ASIC’s sandbox framework.
Industry stakeholders interested in participating can join the experimental research phase or become members of the Industry Advisory Group. The project builds on Australia’s previous CBDC experiments, but notably differs by considering the issuance of pilot wholesale CBDC on third-party blockchain networks, similar to Switzerland’s Project Helvetia.
This initiative aligns with the RBA’s broader strategy to modernize Australia’s financial system for the digital age, potentially offering significant efficiency gains and risk reduction in wholesale markets through atomic settlement and enhanced composability.
