The Reserve Bank of Australia has chosen ConsenSys, a blockchain-focused tech company, on a project to develop use cases for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) with distributed ledger technology (DLT).
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With the partnership, ConsenSys will develop a proof-of-concept (PoC) for the Australian watchdog's digital currency with support for the funding, settlement and repayment of a tokenized syndicated loan on the Ethereum blockchain.
Assistant Governor Michele Bullock says the bank wants to explore the implications of a CBDC "for efficiency, risk management and innovation in wholesale financial market transactions."
"While the case for the use of a CBDC in these markets remains an open question, we are pleased to be collaborating with industry partners to explore if there is a future role for a wholesale CBDC in the Australian payments system," Bullock added.
The project is expected to be completed at the end of 2020 and a report on the project and its main use cases during the first half of 2021.
This is a big year for ConsenSys. Despite often layoffs, the company succeeded to sign partnerships with several central banks as a key developer for the CBDC technology.
For instance, French multinational investment bank Société Générale earlier selected ConsenSys to provide technology and expertise for a central bank digital currency issuance and management.
Besides Société Générale, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) also announced it will collaborate with ConsenSys for a CBDC payment network project. ConsenSys will work on the second implementation phase of Project Inthanon-LionRock, signed between the HKMA and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) in May 2019.
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