Australia’s central bank and banknote issuing authority are undertaking initiatives in the areas of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and digital money.
According to Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Governor Brad Jones, the central bank’s work agenda on digital money will focus more on wholesale CBDC used by banks and other financial institutions rather than Retail CBDC issued to the general public.
“I can confirm that the RBA is making a strategic commitment to prioritize its work agenda on wholesale digital money and infrastructure – including wholesale CBDC – over retail CBDC.”
Jones says wholesale CBDC promises more economic benefits and fewer challenges than retail CBDC. The wholesale version also represents more of an evolution than a revolution in monetary arrangements.
“It also recognizes the stabilizing role of central bank money in the settlement of wholesale market transactions, especially in markets that are (or could be) systemically important – a point emphasized in international standards.”
Jones says RBA’s most immediate priority in its three-year applied research program into the future of digital money is to launch a new project on wholesale CBDC and tokenized commercial bank deposits.
“Given that the potential benefits of a retail CBDC in Australia currently appear modest, and a retail CBDC would create non-trivial challenges to financial stability and monetary policy implementation, we have yet to make a strong case for see the public policy emerging for enacting a retail CBDC.”
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