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Australia eAUD (Digital Australian Dollar)

Reserve Bank of Australia

Status

Overall Status:Pilot
Policy Stance:Supportive
Availability
Retailnone
Wholesalepilot

Architecture

Type:wholesale
Architecture:two-tier
Legal Tender:pilot only

Cross-Border Projects

No cross-border projects reported.

Capabilities

offline payments
programmability
cross border
interest bearing
transaction limits

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Australia have a CBDC?

Yes, Australia is developing Australia eAUD (Digital Australian Dollar), currently in pilot phase.

What is the status of Australia's CBDC?

Australia eAUD (Digital Australian Dollar) is in pilot phase as of 2026-02-17. The pilot program is actively testing with real users.

When did Australia launch its CBDC pilot?

The pilot launched on 2023-03-01.

How many people use Australia's CBDC?

User and wallet metrics are not publicly available at this time.

Is Australia's CBDC retail or wholesale?

Australia eAUD (Digital Australian Dollar) is a wholesale CBDC designed for interbank settlements and large-value transactions.

Which central bank manages Australia eAUD (Digital Australian Dollar)?

Australia eAUD (Digital Australian Dollar) is managed by Reserve Bank of Australia.

Recent Developments

According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the Australian CBDC Pilot for Digital Finance Innovation ran from January to April 2023, issuing a pilot eAUD as a real legal liability on a private, permissioned Ethereum (Quorum) platform. The pilot tested 10-12 industry use cases with both retail and wholesale applications, focusing on programmability and smart contracts. All eAUD was redeemed and burned at the pilot's conclusion. In July 2025, RBA and DFCRC announced Project Acacia to explore wholesale CBDC for tokenised asset markets including fixed income, private markets, trade receivables, and carbon credits. Project Acacia involves 24 use cases (19 pilots with real money, 5 proofs-of-concept) using pilot wholesale CBDC, stablecoins, and bank deposit tokens on platforms like Hedera, Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, Canvas Connect, and EVM-compatible networks. Supported by ASIC, APRA, and Treasury, the project aligns with the Government's March 2025 Statement on Developing an Innovative Australian Digital Asset Industry. Participants include Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, J.P. Morgan, HQLAX, Fireblocks, and Northern Trust. Testing ran over six months from July 2025, with an RBA report planned for Q1 2026.

Updated: 2/17/2026

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