From the outset, Australia’s central bank has signalled a meaningful shift in financial market infrastructure with the launch of Project Acacia, a trial involving real-money settlement experiments across diverse asset classes. Beginning in July 2025, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is collaborating with major financial institutions and technology partners, including Hedera, Redbelly, R3 Corda and Canvas Connect, to test 19 pilot cases and five proof‑of‑concept scenarios involving everything from fixed-income and trade receivables to carbon credits.
The initiative concentrates exclusively on wholesale digital currency, eschewing a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) in favour of enhancing efficiency within institutional ecosystems. By enabling settlement via tokenised bank deposit tokens, stablecoins and wholesale CBDCs, the RBA aims to reduce counterparty and operational risk, unlock collateral reserves, and boost transparency and auditability in interbank operations. Findings from these pilot trials, scheduled to conclude in early 2026, will shape policy decisions and infrastructure design in 2026’s first half.
For banks, fintechs and insurers, the implications are profound. Wholesale CBDCs could streamline cross-border payments, minimise settlement delays and pave the way for more sophisticated repo and collateral management tools. Financial institutions should now begin integrating digital ledger technologies into their systems to stay ahead, especially as ASIC temporarily relaxes regulation to accommodate real-money trials.
Moreover, the robustness of Australia’s wholesale financial system could be significantly enhanced by tokenisation, bringing tangible improvements in operational resilience and cost efficiency. This recalibration aligns with global trends: the Bank for International Settlements indicates widespread central bank exploration of digital money models.
In a broader strategic context, this move underlines the imperative for cross‑border coordination in digital currency innovation. While Australia prioritises wholesale systems, evolving retail CBDC approaches in other jurisdictions signal a future where interoperability and regulatory clarity will become essential pillars of global financial architecture.
In summary, Project Acacia marks a pivotal moment for the BFSI sector in Australia. Institutions should closely observe outcomes from these trials to guide strategic investments, foster regulatory engagement, and drive operational modernisation.
