According to a white paper released on Monday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) anticipates finishing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial by the middle of 2023.
The press release stated that the pilot’s goal is to “examine creative use cases” that might be facilitated by the issuing of a CBDC.
The study was reported to be looking into regulatory aspects related to a CBDC in the white paper, a document created by the bank that may eventually be used to advise future regulations.
The RBA did not explicitly state that it will issue a CBDC in the document, but it did state that it is looking for industry participants’ input to “add to ongoing study.” The experiment is anticipated to conclude at the start of the next year with preliminary results to be published in mid-2023
The CBDC research study in Australia began in July, and the pilot phase began in August. The report was released after Australian opposition leader Andrew Bragg criticized the present administration, which is headed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, for its “inaction” on cryptocurrency. In the meantime, the Albanesian administration declared it would adopt “token mapping” as a foundation for legislation.
Additional information on the CBDC project is included in the white paper, including the fact that eAUD would be the name of Australia’s experimental currency and that all participants in the initiative must be invited and approved.
The CBDC research study is one of the pinnacle projects where the Australian Central Bank has collaborated with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center (DFCRC) to explore the use cases of CBDCs.
“We want to get the regulation right because we want to ensure the guardrails are sufficiently wide to enable innovation to occur within a safe ecosystem,” said Stephen Jones, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones.
