Australia is taking a bold step into the future of finance with a large-scale trial of digital currencies, including central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins, and bank deposit tokens. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced the second phase of Project Acacia, a joint initiative with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, aiming to explore how tokenized money could enhance wholesale financial markets.

This six-month trial will test 24 use cases, with 19 involving real funds and five operating as proofs-of-concept using simulated transactions. Participants range from major banks to fintech firms, experimenting across various asset classes such as fixed income, trade receivables, private markets, and carbon credits. The goal is to assess how digital assets can increase efficiency, reduce risk, and streamline liquidity management.

Three of Australia’s four biggest banks—Commonwealth Bank (CBA), ANZ, and Westpac—are participating. CBA is collaborating with JPMorgan to improve the repo market using digital currencies, which they believe is a key area for innovation in liquidity and monetary policy. ANZ is testing tokenized trade payables and fixed-income instruments, exploring how a wholesale CBDC could offer safer, faster settlements.

Regulators are supporting the initiative. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has granted temporary relief from some legal requirements to enable testing of assets not yet covered by current laws. ASIC says this regulatory flexibility will help evaluate the risks and potential benefits of digital asset technologies in real-world environments.

This pilot program comes as Australia continues to develop a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework. The government is working with major banks to better understand de-banking issues and has been engaging with the industry since 2022 to shape future regulations. Results from the trial are expected in early 2026.