Australia commences second stage of trials involving tokenized assets and central bank digital currency (CBDC) settlements with prominent financial institutions

Australia commences second stage of trials involving tokenized assets and central bank digital currency (CBDC) settlements with prominent financial institutions

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) have initiated the second phase of Project Acacia, a six-month trial aimed at exploring the potential of digital money and existing settlement infrastructure in supporting the development of Australian wholesale tokenized asset markets.

In this phase, 24 industry participants, including major Australian banks such as Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, and Westpac, along with specialized firms, will be involved. The project will test 19 real-money pilot use cases, with an additional five proof-of-concept simulations using simulated transactions.

The use cases cover a range of asset classes, including fixed income, private markets, trade receivables, and carbon credits. To facilitate these transactions, stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, and a pilot wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be used, and deployed on various platforms such as Hedera, Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, Canvas Connect, and other EVM-compatible networks.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has provided regulatory relief to enable participants to conduct tokenized asset transactions without standard licensing requirements during the pilot period. The findings from this phase are expected to be published in the first quarter of 2026.

Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial System) at the RBA, stated that the project aims to understand how digital money and payments infrastructure could improve wholesale financial markets in Australia. The results of the second phase are expected to inform how public and private sector innovations could enhance the efficiency and resilience of Australia's financial markets.

It's important to note that this phase does not involve retail CBDCs, as Bank of England Governor has cast doubt on the case for retail CBDCs. The RBA will continue to issue pilot CBDCs across various distributed ledger platforms such as Redbelly Network, Hedera, R3 Corda, and EVM-compatible chains during the second phase.

Project Acacia, launched in late 2024, aligns with the federal government's broader digital asset strategy, outlined in a March 2025 policy statement. The RBA is also currently conducting a pilot to test digital money and tokenized settlements. This initiative is part of the RBA's broader goal of exploring the potential benefits and risks of digital currencies for the Australian economy.

1. The ledger platforms used in Project Acacia, such as Hedera, Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, and EVM-compatible chains, will be deployed to facilitate tokenized asset transactions during the second phase.
2. The Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have initiated the second phase of Project Acacia, which involves testing 19 real-money pilot use cases and five proof-of-concept simulations using simulated transactions.
3. In the second phase of Project Acacia, the RBA will continue to issue pilot CBDCs on various ledger platforms as they explore the potential benefits and risks of digital currencies for the Australian economy.
4. The Australian crypto industry, including major Australian banks like Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, and Westpac, along with specialized firms, will be participating in Project Acacia's second phase, aimed at developing Australian wholesale tokenized asset markets using technology like dex and ico.

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