Australian Payments Plus selected to participate in RBA’s Project Acacia

Australian Payments Plus (AP+) have announced that it has been selected to participate in the next stage of Project Acacia, a research project being led by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC).

Project Acacia explores how different forms of digital money and associated infrastructure could support the development of wholesale tokenised asset markets in Australia. Building on the success of a 2023 Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot, the project will develop and test use cases for settlement in tokenised asset markets, with input from industry participants.

Among the potential benefits from tokenisation, RBA research from 2024 has suggested that up to $13 billion per year in savings could be available to issuers in the Australian capital markets.

“Enabling value to be exchanged in a safe and reliable manner is at the core of what we do at AP+, including through our real-time payments platform the NPP,” said Lynn Kraus, CEO of Australian Payments Plus.

“CBDCs and other forms of digital money, such as stablecoins, have the potential to transform how value moves through the economy. Conversations around CBDCs are happening globally, and we’re thrilled to be a part of the discussion in Australia,” added Kraus.

AP+ has been conditionally selected to evaluate three interconnected use cases that examine wholesale digital asset settlement and tokenised applications.

The first use case will examine how multiple types of digital money – including stablecoins and deposit tokens – could operate together within a shared framework, enabling greater interoperability. The second use case will explore what new services or frameworks might be needed to coordinate settlement across these different asset classes and platforms, helping ensure future systems are secure, efficient and cohesive. And the third use case will explore how the NPP could be used to settle wholesale tokenised assets, such as deposit tokens, by comparing different modes of settlement.

Several other pilot participants will integrate with these use cases in collaboration with AP+.

“As the operator of Australia’s real-time payments infrastructure, AP+ is well placed to support industry-wide innovation,” said Kraus. “Project Acacia allows us to explore how we could support emerging forms of wholesale digital settlement and strengthen the broader wholesale payments ecosystem.”