RBA outlines plan to commercialize tokenized asset markets

The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre published the Project Acacia report detailing tests of 20 wholesale tokenized asset market use cases. Industry participants designed scenarios spanning issuance, servicing, trading and settlement to examine how digital assets could work in practice.

The trials examined four settlement arrangements: traditional RBA exchange settlement account (ESA) balances, a pilot wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), tokenized commercial bank deposits and stablecoins. The report records potential benefits for processing, reconciliation and settlement timing across the asset lifecycle.

The report does not endorse a single settlement model. It compares trade-offs involving settlement speed, finality, operational complexity and dependence on private providers.

The RBA said the next phase will target coordination shortfalls and remove regulatory and technical barriers to safe adoption. A central element is a proposed regulatory sandbox to provide a clearer path from pilots to commercial offerings and allow market participants to test business models at scale.

The report sets out workstreams to address legal, operational and governance gaps identified during testing, including clarifying legal frameworks for tokenized ownership and transfer, standardizing messaging and interfaces, and improving interoperability between platforms and settlement methods.

Brad Jones, assistant governor at the RBA, described Project Acacia as identifying common opportunities and challenges for a more dynamic and resilient financial system and called for coordinated action across public and private sectors.

In the United Kingdom, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority have launched a consultation on principles for regulating and building infrastructure to support tokenization in wholesale markets. Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England, urged public and private actors to move successful pilots into production to support financial stability and sustainable growth.

The RBA and DFCRC recommend continued collaboration among regulators, central banks, industry and technology providers to pilot specific market arrangements at scale and use the proposed sandbox to test commercial viability while maintaining safety in core financial systems.