The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced that it will not be implementing a retail CBDC anytime soon, instead focusing on wholesale CBDC. Speaking at the Intersekt Fintech Conference in Melbourne, RBA Deputy Governor Brad Jones said the bank will prioritize wholesale digital currency and infrastructure for the next three years.

Jones said that while retail CBDC does not offer any real innovation in public use in Australia, wholesale CBDC provides significant benefits for commercial and central banks. These benefits include reducing counterparty and operational risks, increasing transparency and auditability, improving liquidity and transaction capabilities, and reducing intermediation and compliance costs.

Jones also noted that the potential benefits of retail CBDC are “modest or uncertain” and present several challenges, including higher borrowing costs, the risk of bank runs, and difficulties implementing related monetary policy. He stressed that the RBA’s most urgent priority is to launch the public phase of Project Acacia to explore wholesale CBDC and tokenized commercial bank deposits.

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