The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a white paper providing a detailed plan for carrying out a pilot project for eAUD, joining the list of nations that want to introduce an internal central bank digital currency (CBDC).
To investigate the use cases for a CBDC in Australia, the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) established a partnership on August 9, 2022. A project to test the overall purpose of the pilot CBDC was launched as a result of the collaborative study. As per the white paper issued by the RBA, the project will help the bank to pin down key objectives such as understanding innovative business models, pros and cons associated with the plan and exploring “operational models for a CBDC in Australia.”
Through the Cooperative Research Centres Program, the Australian Government, universities, and industry partners have contributed $180 million over ten years to the DFCRC research programme.
As per the published timetable, the pilot is expected to start by November 2022. By the end of the first quarter of 2023, the bank also intends to publish the use cases. The pilot will be shut down by April 2023 and a detailed report will be published by mid-2023.
The DFCRC will be in charge of directing the creation and setup of the eAUD platform, while the RBA, as the central bank, will be in charge of issuing the eAUD. Once the implementation is approved, industry partners can participate in the pilot as use case providers. The RBA will also be responsible for the burning of coins, authorization of the use cases and keeping track of eAUD balances and transactions.
The eAUD platform will be created and set up by the DFCRC as a private, permissioned Ethereum (Quorum) implementation. Under the direction and control of the RBA, the eAUD ledger will function as a centralized platform. The RBA has also made it clear that selected industry participants will bear the cost for the design, conception, development and implementation of the CBDC.
Australia’s ministerial department of Treasury surveyed the population on the topic of taxing cryptocurrency on September 6, 2022. According to Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, it’s not his aim to tax cryptocurrency assets as foreign money.
The 25-day period for Australian investors to voice their opinions on this choice concludes on September 30, 2022. If passed, the legislation will change the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act’s definition of digital currency to exclude it from the definition of a foreign asset.
