ANZ has been selected as the nominated distributor for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre’s (DFCRC) Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot. The bank will distribute CBDC to chosen participants on behalf of the RBA and test three use cases: Super Fund payments, offline payments, and tokenisation of carbon credits.
Nigel Dobson, ANZ Banking Services Lead, stated, “We are pleased to support the RBA as nominated distributor for non-Exchange Settlement Account holders in this pilot program. The CBDC pilot is an important research opportunity for the Australian economy and broader payments ecosystem.”
ANZ has prior experience in digital asset capability. Last March, it executed the first-ever Australian-bank issued Australian-dollar stablecoin payment through a public permissionless blockchain transaction. Additionally, ANZ's A$DC was used to purchase a digital representation of Australian carbon credits in June.
Dobson added, “At ANZ, we’ve been exploring this space for some time and we’re focusing on how we can leverage our in-house talent, combined with the knowledge of our partners, to offer the best possible processes and technologies to the pilot program.” He further noted that they would continue exploring new ways for customers to transact and trade value with new financial market infrastructure.
The RBA announced the purpose of this pilot in 2022: to explore use cases for a CBDC in Australia and assess potential economic benefits.