Australia’s eAUD Pilot to Be Completed by Mid-2023

Australia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) eAUD pilot is expected to be completed in mid-2023. This is according to a whitepaper released by the country’s central bank on Monday. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), in collaboration with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center (DFCRC), began research on the feasibility of an eAUD in July.

The document discusses the objectives of the project and what approach is being taken. It also reveals the eAUD design that will be used by industry participants to explore CBDC use cases. The paper is titled “Australian CBDC Pilot for Digital Finance Innovation” and calls for submissions on CBDC use cases from industry participants that they deem to have the potential to benefit the Australian economy and financial system. Industry participants can also express interest in testing out their use cases in the project to demonstrate the value proposition.

The white paper stressed that the eAUD pilot program does not guarantee that RBA will issue a CBDC at the end.

“The key objectives of the project are to identify and understand innovative business models, use cases, benefits, risks, and operational models for a CBDC in Australia. It is expected that industry participants will benefit from testing business models and use cases for CBDC, potentially involving their clients. A report on the findings, including an assessment of the various use cases developed, will be published at the conclusion of the project. These findings will contribute to ongoing research into the desirability and feasibility of a CBDC in Australia,” the paper read in part.

This comes following Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg’s call for increased regulation of the crypto industry in the country to ensure national security. Expressing concern about a perceived lack of proper legislation to regulate crypto exchanges, stablecoins, and Chinese banks dealing with the digital yuan in Australia, Bragg revealed that he had drafted a private member’s bill to this effect.

China was one of the first countries to begin CBDC research and is so far the most advanced. It was the world’s first major economy to pilot a CBDC in April 2020. The project is set to expand in 2023. Other countries that have made significant progress include Nigeria, Jamaica, the Bahamas, India, and Sweden.