Australia’s central bank has announced that Project Acacia is moving into its next phase of testing to examine how crypto assets and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could support the growth of the country’s wholesale tokenised asset markets.

According to The Block, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said that it will trial 24 use cases in this next stage, with participation from fintech firms and leading banks.

A collaborative initiative between the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, Project Acacia also receives support from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

ASIC confirmed it is offering regulatory relief to participants, enabling them to test tokenised asset transactions, including, in some cases, the use of CBDCs.

The trials will explore a variety of settlement assets, including stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, a pilot wholesale CBDC, and enhanced uses of banks’ existing exchange settlement accounts at the RBA.

Participating institutions include major Australian banks such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and Westpac.

“Project Acacia represents an opportunity for further collaborative exploration on tokenised asset markets and the future of money by the public and private sectors in Australia,”

said Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial System) at the RBA.

“The use cases selected in this project will help us to better understand how innovations in central bank and private digital money, alongside payments infrastructure, might help to uplift the functioning of wholesale financial markets in Australia.”

The Australian government continues to evaluate the integration of crypto assets and CBDCs into its broader financial framework.

In March, the Treasury released plans for a “fit-for-purpose” digital asset regulatory framework, naming Project Acacia as a central component.

Featured image credit: Reserve Bank of Australia