RBA to Trial Digital Currency

The Reserve Bank of Australia will pilot digital currencies in a ‘ring-fence’ pilot program as part of a joint research project on how consumers and businesses can use digital currencies.

Australia’s central bank previously declared There is interest in a digital currency that could rival privately-created cryptocurrencies, a digital currency equivalent to the dollar, but a research project the bank announced on Tuesday with the Digital Finance Collaborative Research Center said that such It focuses on how these assets are actually used.

The research center’s chief executive officer, Andreas Furce, whose organization is the product of collaboration between industry, universities and government, said central bank digital currencies have already proven to be technically feasible. rice field. “A key research question now is the economic benefits that CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) enable and how they can be designed to maximize those benefits,” Furche said. .

In a media release, the Reserve Bank said earlier research from central banks around the world addressed issues such as how distributed ledger technology, a hallmark of cryptocurrencies, could be used for RBA-backed currencies. said.

But RBA vice president Michele Bullock said Tuesday’s project is the next step in research. “We look forward to working with a wide range of industry stakeholders to better understand the potential benefits that CBDC could bring to Australia,” Bullock said.

The project will include a “ring-fenced environment” in which a pilot digital currency with real claims against the Reserve Bank will be used. Participants selected by banks and research centers will develop projects that demonstrate how digital currencies can be used to support businesses and households within that framework. I will post the report at the end.

RBA Governor Philip Lowe has previously said that the risk of central bank digital currencies could lead to bank runs if nervous consumers use it to extract wealth from commercial banks and retain it at the RBA during a crisis. I warned you that there is potential.

Privately-created cryptocurrencies did poorly this year, some even meant to be stably pegged to the US dollar wiped out.