Australia’s Reserve Bank lays out tokenization plan, sees AU$24 billion in gains

Australia’s Reserve Bank outlined a plan to implement tokenization in wholesale markets following Project Acacia’s findings. In his speech, Assistant Governor Brad Jones described adoption as a matter of “how” rather than “if.”

The central bank will establish a digital financial market infrastructure sandbox to test tokenized assets, tokenized money and settlement systems in a controlled, stage-gated setting. Work will be coordinated with the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR), the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) and industry.

Analysis linked to the project estimates that tokenization could deliver about AU$24 billion a year in efficiency gains for the Australian economy, with additional benefits if new markets emerge. Project Acacia covered 20 use cases, including tokenized government bonds, corporate bonds, repurchase agreements and investment funds. Settlement testing used four forms of money: a wholesale central bank digital currency, exchange settlement account balances, stablecoins and bank deposit tokens.

To address legal and regulatory questions, the RBA will form a Regulator-Industry Tokenisation Advisory Group. An expanded Deposit Token Working Group will focus on interoperability of deposit tokens across banks. CFR agencies will convene a C-suite roundtable on digital finance priorities.

The RBA will review access policies for exchange settlement accounts once payment service provider licensing reforms pass Parliament. The goal is to clarify participation for new entrants that support tokenized market infrastructure and to reduce uncertainty raised in consultations.

Jones outlined how tokenized private money might be used. Stablecoins may fill niche roles in smaller, greenfield markets, while bank deposit tokens – backed by prudential regulation and central bank liquidity access – are seen as better suited to larger, established markets. Industry feedback to the RBA characterized a wholesale CBDC as “potentially helpful, but far from essential” for growth in tokenized markets, noting activity in the United States where tokenized repo volumes now approach about $400 billion per day.

The speech identified frictions in Australia’s wholesale markets, including entrenched network effects, legal and regulatory uncertainty and coordination gaps that hinder technology planning. The sandbox and advisory programs are intended to provide clearer pathways for testing and deployment.

“Tokenization is now a question of how rather than if,” Jones noted. On the role of central bank money, he added that a wholesale CBDC is “potentially helpful, but far from essential.”

As we covered previously, Australian superannuation fund Hostplus weighs crypto access for its members through the Choiceplus option as early as next fiscal year, subject to approvals.