The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has started exploring the possible use and implications of the wholesale form of a CDBC, backed by the Ethereum blockchain. RBA hopes to launch a wholesale CBDC on the Ethereum blockchain.
As stated in the announcement, the companies will also research a proof-of-concept (POC) that will enable the issuance of tokenized CBDC for wholesale market participants.
The bank announced that it is now in partnership with other financial groups and a blockchain software company on the research project. The other partners are National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Perpetual, and blockchain software company ConsenSys.
The assistant governor at the RBA, Michele Bullock, explained the goal of the research:
“With this project we are aiming to explore the implications of a CBDC for efficiency, risk management and innovation in wholesale financial market transactions….”
Bullock also said that the RBA is satisfied with the collaboration as the findings would help determine if a wholesale CBDC has a future role in the Australian payments system.
In 2017, RBA governor Philip Lowe said that the bank does not plan to issue a digital currency, either in wholesale or retail form.
Recently, the head of payments policy at RBA, Tony Richards, said that the central bank had no reason to issue a CBDC in the country. At the time, Richards added that RBA would continue with its research on the potential use and implications of CBDC.
Image Credits: Pixabay
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