The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) have launched Project Acacia, approving 24 industry pilots to test wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), stablecoins, and tokenized deposits. The initiative involves real-money transactions across 19 use cases and simulated transactions in 5 proof-of-concept trials, targeting tokenized assets including bonds, carbon credits, and private market instruments.
Settlement will occur via stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, and pilot wCBDC on distributed ledger platforms including Hedera (HBAR), Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, Canvas Connect, and EVM-compatible networks. Major participants include ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and fintech firms like Fireblocks and Zerocap. Testing runs for six months with findings due in Q1 2026, potentially unlocking $12.4 billion in annual economic gains according to DFCRC research.
RBA Assistant Governor Brad Jones emphasized collaborative exploration of "tokenized asset markets and the future of money." However, Komodo Platform CTO Kadan Stadelmann criticized the project's permissioned, centralized approach, warning it could enable "even greater financial control" than traditional systems.