AUDDapt backs next generation of digital dollar use cases
What does an Australian dollar stablecoin actually get used for? Private credit, institutional settlement, international education payments, clean-energy investment and even payments between AI agents are among the answers emerging from AUDC‘s first AUDDapt cohort.
The AUDDapt grant program attracted 59 applications from businesses from a multitude of industries, with 12 projects selected for AUDD 250,000 in milestone-based funding and support. Rather than funding concepts alone, AUDDapt is designed to move integrations into real products, transaction flows and production environments.
According to AUDC‘s Head of Ecosystem & Strategic Initiatives, Rachael Jones, AUDDapt was deliberately designed to be more than a traditional crypto grant program or hackathon. The focus was on identifying Australian companies that could integrate AUDD into products, transaction flows and ultimately production environments.
“We weren’t looking for people who could tell us why stablecoins are interesting. We were looking for businesses where an Australian-dollar stablecoin actually improves the product, transaction or customer experience,” Jones said.
Among the projects selected for the first AUDDapt cohort is Elysium’s MatchHub.
Through AUDDapt, Elysium is integrating AUDD minting and redemption into MatchHub’s treasury and settlement workflows, so institutional clients can move between Australian dollars and AUDD alongside their existing treasury balances. For firms trading Australian-dollar pairs, the model is designed to allow 24/7 on-chain settlement without complex back-end fiat payment integration.
“FX markets turn over around US$9.6 trillion a day, and the Australian dollar is the seventh-most traded currency. Yet much of the final settlement process is still constrained by banking-hour infrastructure. AUDD changes that for the Australian-dollar leg by enabling settlement in minutes, at any time of day. By building AUDD into MatchHub, Elysium is giving institutions access to that capability from within the post-trade workflow they already use,” Jones said.
The broader cohort includes tokenised private credit through Kasu; international student tuition payments through AUDD EduPay; digital settlement within clean-energy investment through RegenX; and payment infrastructure allowing AI agents to transact through Redditech’s ClawsOut.
“The range of applications matters because it shows that demand is not limited to one narrow payments use case. We are seeing founders test where Australian-dollar settlement can improve products across finance, education, energy, gaming and AI,” Jones said.
Projects are assessed against agreed milestones, with funding tied to delivery outcomes rather than concepts alone. Recipients retain ownership of the technology and intellectual property they build, while also receiving technical support, ecosystem introductions and assistance moving integrations from concept through to production.
For AUDC Co-Founder and CEO Effie Dimitropoulos, the program reflects a broader shift taking place across the digital asset sector.
“The conversation around stablecoins is increasingly moving from potential to implementation,” Dimitropoulos said.
“What’s encouraging about the AUDDapt cohort is the breadth of businesses finding practical ways to use digital Australian dollars, from financial services and payments, extending through to education, clean energy and AI. That’s the type of innovation that helps strengthen Australia’s digital economy.”
With the first cohort now progressing through development, attention will turn from announced grants to measurable outcomes.
“Funding a project is one thing. The test is whether it reaches production and gets used: users, transactions and real-world AUDD usage. That’s what we’re measuring next,” Jones said.
