The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre released the Project Acacia final report on 19 May 2026. The report closes a multi-year research effort exploring how digital money can improve wholesale asset markets. Importantly, it ran alongside the Council of Financial Regulators, including ASIC, APRA, and Treasury. Industry participants developed 20 use cases spanning fixed income, managed funds, repos, carbon credits, and trade payables. Of these, 12 ran as live pilots with real money, while 8 ran as proofs of concept.
The findings confirm strong potential for tokenization to lift efficiency and resilience across Australia’s wholesale markets. However, the report also flags coordination gaps, legal ambiguity, and inertia from incumbent institutions. As a result, the RBA is launching a multi-stream program of follow-on work. This includes a possible regulatory sandbox, a tokenized government bond initiative, and an expanded Deposit Token Working Group. Notably, the project surfaced opportunities that extend well beyond tokenization itself.
🇦🇺 @RBAInfo & DFCRC's Project Acacia report highlights how Hedera and @hashgraph's HashSphere are helping shape the future of institutional digital asset infrastructure in Australia.
— Hedera (@hedera) May 20, 2026
Powered by Hedera, HashSphere enabled regulated private settlement environments while…
A Pilot wCBDC Issued Across Public and Private Ledgers
For the first time, the RBA issued a pilot wholesale central bank digital currency directly onto third-party platforms. Total issuance reached $4.4 million across eight use cases, with individual transactions of up to $250,000. The pilot wCBDC represented a real legal claim on the RBA, backed by a deed poll. Additionally, it was deployed on EVM-compatible networks using the ERC-20 standard with custom controls. These controls let the RBA mint, burn, pause, and whitelist addresses.
ANZ, Banking Circle Australia, and Cuscal acted as distributors for the pilot wCBDC. The RBA used three platforms for issuance, namely Australian Payments Plus’s HashSphere instance, Canvas Connect, and Redbelly Network. According to the report, wCBDC enabled true atomic settlement when co-located with tokenized assets. Moreover, it served as a safe backing asset for stablecoins and a neutral interchange medium between private money tokens. Still, the RBA noted that legal finality, governance, and platform risk all require deeper analysis before any production decision.
Hedera, XRP Ledger, Ethereum, Redbelly, and Canvas Connect
The use cases ran across five distinct distributed ledger platforms, reflecting the diversity of Australia’s tokenization experimentation. Hedera appeared in both public Mainnet and private HashSphere configurations, making it the only network tested in dual mode. Specifically, Imperium Markets ran term deposit, certificate of deposit, and annuity pilots on Hedera with a Cuscal-issued stablecoin backed by wCBDC. Meanwhile, Australian Payments Plus used HashSphere for its Token Interchange use case, demonstrating multilateral conversion between stablecoins and deposit tokens.
The XRP Ledger powered Zerocap’s pilot of a tokenized Australian Government bond digital twin. That use case covered primary issuance, secondary trading on a central limit order book, an automated market maker, and redemption. Settlement happened in Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, with Chainlink Labs and Fireblocks also collaborating. Additionally, Ethereum hosted Forte’s tokenized government bond settled in the AUDF stablecoin and ProspEx’s mining royalty proof of concept. Redbelly Network supported pilots from Australian Bond Exchange, Macropod, Fireblocks, and NotCentralised, while Canvas Connect carried two Canvas pilots covering government bonds and a private credit fund.
Chainlink and Westpac Connect PayTo to Tokenized Settlement
Westpac partnered with Chainlink and Imperium Markets to bridge tokenized asset platforms with Australia’s existing fast payment rails. Their proof of concept used the New Payments Platform PayTo service to settle tokenized term deposit transactions. As a result, they demonstrated how DLT-based marketplaces could connect to RITS Fast Settlement Service without relying on wCBDC. The setup leveraged Chainlink’s runtime to coordinate the asset and cash legs across systems. Quintessence Labs joined as another collaborator on the use case.
This approach matters because it shows tokenized settlement can happen with existing infrastructure. Specifically, the RBA’s exchange settlement accounts could underpin tokenized markets through synchronisation mechanisms. Northern Trust ran a parallel proof of concept settling tokenized carbon credits via SWIFT messaging into RITS. Together, these pilots show that ESAs can deliver many tokenization benefits without requiring a production wCBDC. Consequently, the RBA plans to consult industry on upgrading RITS infrastructure to support tokenized markets.
Deposit Tokens, Stablecoins, and the Singleness of Money
The Deposit Token Working Group brought together ANZ, CBA, NAB, and Westpac under DFCRC leadership. Chaired by the DFCRC, with RBA, ASIC, APRA, AUSTRAC, and Treasury observing, it produced legal analysis on two deposit token models. Model 1 mirrors traditional interbank payments, with tokens destroyed and re-issued when crossing banks. By contrast, Model 2 treats deposit tokens as transferable bearer-like instruments, similar to some stablecoin designs. The legal analysis suggested both could fit within existing Australian banking law, with some clarifying reforms.
Stablecoins also featured throughout the project, with AUDM, AUDF, AUDD, and RLUSD all used across pilots. CBA tested a deposit token for repo settlement, while ANZ ran a tokenized corporate bond pilot using wCBDC for interbank interchange. According to the report, the global stablecoin market reached over US$320 billion in May 2026. Furthermore, tokenized real-world assets exceeded US$30 billion globally, with potential to hit US$30 trillion by the mid-2030s. The DFCRC estimates that tokenization could deliver A$24 billion annually in economic gains for Australia.
The Road Ahead: Sandbox, Government Bonds, and Cross-Border Payments
The post-Acacia program organizes 11 initiatives across three workstreams led by regulators, industry, and the RBA. On the regulatory side, the RBA, ASIC, and DFCRC will explore a digital financial market infrastructure sandbox. This would create a longer-lasting environment for industry to move from experimentation to commercial scale. Additionally, a tokenized government bond initiative will explore digitally native sovereign issuance. A C-suite roundtable will engage executives on the future of tokenized finance in Australia.
The industry workstream extends the Deposit Token Working Group to deepen interoperability research. Furthermore, a Joint Regulator-Industry Tokenization Advisory Group will reconstitute the original Industry Advisory Group with new members. The RBA’s own workstream includes consultation on RITS upgrades, a review of ESA access policy, and further applied wCBDC research. Cross-border payments will also receive new attention through international and domestic partnerships. According to Ledger Insights, this roadmap reflects growing momentum among central banks worldwide, including initiatives from the BIS, ECB, MAS, and Bank of England.
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