When the testing process of the CBDC, digital dollar – the eAUD, officially begins, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has revealed that it will be working along with payments firm Mastercard.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has stated that it plans to investigate a wide range of applications for its central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC).
These use cases will reportedly include offline payments, dealing in securities, and settling bonds, among others. In order to accomplish this goal, the RBA is beginning a number of different test initiatives.
RBA Assistant Governor Brad Jones claimed (1) in a statement that the pilot programs would involve a significant number of industry partners.
The announcement was released on Thursday morning local time. Jones says they will vary from relatively few fintech companies to enormous financial institutions.
Mastercard, the Australian Bond Exchange, Monoova, Commonwealth Bank, and DigiCash are just some of the companies that have partnered with the Reserve Bank of Australia on the trial programs.
For example, the RBA is hoping to address the problem of using a CBDC to complete transactions that take place offline by partnering with Mastercard. In keeping with this idea, a project description says that offline payments might be made possible by putting monies onto smart cards in advance.
In the meantime, another study will investigate the feasibility of having foreign remittances available nonstop around the clock.
This project will investigate the feasibility of utilizing the dollar-pegged USDC stablecoin to facilitate foreign currency trades & remittances while simultaneously lowering counterparty risk.
Australia is Attempting to Make the Most of Its CBDC
Jones continued his remarks by focusing on the primary aspect of the pilot projects and the overarching preliminary research that Australia is now conducting. According to his remark, at least two advantages can be derived from it for Australia.
To begin, it will promote experiential education throughout the business. A better understanding of the advantages of a CBDC to the Australian economy will also be facilitated by this information for policymakers.
It is important to remember that the trial run of the digital dollar being conducted by the RBA is just one of several similar projects currently underway all over the world.
The world’s central banks are stepping up their efforts to usher in an economy that is more dependent on digital transactions.
In addition, they are interested in more secure and convenient alternatives to private cryptocurrencies, preferably ones that use conceptually analogous technology.