Australia is known for many amazing things, and it seems lawmakers are hoping to add great crypto initiatives to that list. The company’s top financial watchdog has made a big move. The move is not just huge for the crypto space in Australia; it has left many wondering if this is Australia’s big push to become one of the leading crypto companies.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the country’s highest financial body, has recently approved a group of particularly selected firms for an interesting task. The task in question is to pilot real-money transactions using central bank digital currency and stablecoins. This is by far Australia’s most ambitious venture into tokenized finance proper.
The Commission announced that it would grant what it called “regulatory relief” to 14 participants in the project tagged “Project Acacia.” The project is a joint effort between the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre. Project Acacia is also specifically designed to test how digital forms of money can support institutional trading of tokenized assets.
No doubt, this move is a very good one but ambitious all the same. But if it all works out, Project Acacia can bring in a potential annual gain of up to $12.4 billion, according to a recent DFCRC research.
Project Acacia is not just an ambitious project; it also has a number of use cases. A closer look at the project shows that it has use cases such as fixed income, private markets, trade receivables, and carbon credits.
The Project is apparently going to be run by a big team, including not just the first two we mentioned. Major financial institutions such as ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Westpac, as well as fintech companies like Fireblocks and Zerocap, are included. It’s almost like an Avengers assemble situation.
This regulatory clearance, granted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, will enable the participants to test tokenized asset transactions between participants and financial institutions in the coming months. The clearance clears all the potential regulatory barriers the project would have otherwise faced.
Is Project Acacia Crypto-Friendly or Not?
While Project Acacia is itself a sort of groundbreaking initiative, some experts have called out the Australian government on it. Kadan Stadelmann, the CTO at Komodo Platform, in an interview with Decrypt, said:
“Governments worldwide are rushing to develop state-sanctioned blockchain solutions" that offer "none of the real innovation provided by Bitcoin, instead offering options mired in centralization and control.”
He also believes that the Australian government is not as crypto-friendly as it seems to be. In the same statement, he said:
"The state's contempt for decentralized technology can be seen with these actions, as they're backing extremely centralized blockchain solutions."
He also continued,
"Project Acacia is not focused on open, permissionless blockchain technology, but, instead, like many of the blockchain projects by traditional finance, will be permissioned."
Wherever you stand on the side of the divide, Australia is moving forward with its pilot program, and we can only wait, watch, and see what comes with it.
Jordan V.
Disclaimer: All materials on this site are for informational purposes only. None of the material should be interpreted as investment advice. Please note that despite the nature of much of the material created and hosted on this website, HODL FM is not a financial reference resource, and the opinions of authors and other contributors are their own and should not be taken as financial advice. If you require advice. HODL FM strongly recommends contacting a qualified industry professional.
