Australia’s central bank and banknote issuing authority is pursuing initiatives on 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 than on retail CBDC that is issued for 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 – rather than retail CBDC.”
Jones says wholesale CBDC promises more economic benefits and less 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, particularly 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 on the future of digital money is to launch a new project on wholesale CBDC and tokenized commercial bank deposits.
“Given the potential benefits of a retail CBDC in Australia appear modest at the present time, and a retail CBDC would create non-trivial challenges for financial stability and monetary policy implementation, we are yet to see a strong public policy case emerge for issuing a retail CBDC.”
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