Adding to the list of countries considering launching a domestic central bank digital currency (CBCC), the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released a white paper outlining a broad plan for a pilot project for the eAUD.
In the year On 9 August 2022, the RBA announced a partnership with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center (DFCRC) to explore CBCC use cases for Australia. The joint research led to the launch of a project to test the general purpose pilot CBDC. As stated in the ‘Australian CBCC Pilot for Digital Finance Innovation’ white paper:
“Key objectives of the project are to identify and understand innovative business models, use cases, benefits, risks and practical models for CBDC in Australia.”
The Australian CBCC pilot project report is expected to be released in mid-2023 based on the indicative project timeline as shown below.
As the central bank, the RBA will be responsible for issuing the eAUD, while the DFCRC will oversee the development and deployment of the eAUD platform. Industry participants can join the pilot as service providers after approval for implementation.
The white paper suggests using a private, permissioned instance based on Ethereum (ETH). “Pilot participants, if selected, will bear their own costs for conception, design, development, implementation and testing of use cases,” explains the RBA.
Related: 1M Aussies will enter crypto in the next 12 months – Swyftx survey
On September 6, 2022, the Australian Department of the Treasury approached the public for their views on the taxation of cryptocurrencies. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones expressed his desire to avoid taxing crypto assets as foreign exchange.
Australian investors have been given a 25-day window to comment on the decision, which ends on September 30 – within the next four days. The bill, if signed into law, would amend the definition of digital currency in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act to exclude it as a foreign asset.