The Australian central bank announced on Tuesday that it would begin a year-long study into the merits of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) there, with a particular emphasis on the potential advantages to the Australian economy.
The programme involves a partnership between the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the government-backed business group Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC).
In order to better understand some of the technological, legal, and regulatory issues surrounding the issuing of a CBDC, the project will aim to find novel use cases and business models that might be supported by it.
It will entail the creation of a pilot CBDC on a small scale that will operate in a ring-fenced setting and feature a CBDC that is a legitimate claim on the RBA.
The development of particular use cases that illustrate how a CBDC may be utilised to offer cutting-edge and value-added payment and settlement services to consumers and enterprises will be requested from interested industry partners.
