The Australian eAUD program – researching the use cases of a CBDC in Australia – has attracted a growing interest in the financial space. In a speech by the country’s central bank assistant governor Brad Jones, over 140 use case proposals from 80 entities were submitted.
Some of them include e-commerce payments, government remittances, and the trading and settlements of tokenized assets. The Australian government is conducting the pilot eAUD program in collaboration with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC.)
In the speech, the assistant governor outlined some of the problems the CBDC sought to solve and their relevance in Australia. On the list is the ability of a digital currency to strengthen financial inclusion, which Jones opined could be insignificant in Australia since most Australians accessed financial services.
Another motivation for CBDCs that the report highlighted is the support for universal access to public money. According to Jones, physical cash was readily available in Australia, with recent surveys showing that about 95% of Australians live within 4 kilometers of cash withdrawal points. In addition, about 15% make most of their payments in cash.
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Australia Expects A CBDC To Create Efficiency In The Financial Systems
CBDCs were also lauded in the report as a way in which it could increase competition in the payment systems, bringing down the cost of transactions. Besides, the asset class is expected to boost cross-border payments, which according to the report, remains inefficient.
‘‘In Australia, as in many advanced economies, cross-border retail money transfers conducted via banks can routinely cost 5% or more and take up to two business days to settle. This is unsatisfactory and explains why cross-border payments are an area of intense focus for policymakers,’’ the Assistant Governor’s speech read.
However, the report noted some concerns about the eAUD, including the potential to disrupt bank intermediaries and monetary policy transmission. In addition, the speech also pointed out a potential of a bank run during volatile conditions in the financial market.
See Related: US Banks Partner With NY Fed For CBDC Blockchain Pilot
