Australia Commits to Wholesale CBDC Focus

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has made a strategic commitment to prioritize work on a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) over a retail version. The central bank believes the potential benefits are more promising and the challenges less problematic for a wholesale CBDC compared to a retail CBDC.

Exploring CBDC Use Cases

Australia has been exploring CBDC use cases for several years. In a recent report, the RBA stated it has not been able to identify a clear public benefit for a retail CBDC, as citizens are well served by the current retail payments system. However, the RBA and Treasury remain open to revisiting this assessment in the future.

Launching Wholesale CBDC Project

The RBA will launch a new project with industry next month to explore how new ledger arrangements and concepts like 'programmability' and 'atomic settlement' in tokenized markets could unlock benefits for the Australian financial system and wider economy. This will be the central bank's most immediate priority in the digital money space.

Retail CBDC Considerations

The RBA and Treasury will undertake public engagement on retail CBDC in 2025 and carry out further research and experimentation in the coming years. A further paper examining the merits and potential form of a retail CBDC will be released in 2027.

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Source: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/09/18/australia-to-prioritise-wholesale-cbdc-over-retail/

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