ANZ Australian Bank has partnered with Grollo Carbon Ventures to trade carbon credits using the Australian Central Bank Digital Currency CBDC
It will be the first Australian dollar-backed stablecoin, A$DC. The partnership was part of a pilot project run by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre to test the use of CBDC in various scenarios.
ANZ tokenized Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) while GCV used its A$DC stablecoin to trade carbon credits on a public, permissionless blockchain. The settlement was completed “in near real-time via ANZ smart contracts”.
The use of tokenization for carbon markets has the potential to increase transparency, improve efficiency, and reduce risk, according to Nigel Dobson, ANZ banking services lead.
The project is the first of three Australian CBDC pilot use cases in which ANZ is participating. The bank will also be involved in use cases for offline payments and pension fund payments, among the 14 use case projects the RBA announced in March.
A$DC, the first Australian dollar-based stablecoin, was launched in March 2022 and was used in June in an ACCU trade between the Victor Smorgon Group and Zerocap.
National Australia Bank also issued AUDN, the second Australian bank-issued stablecoin specifically designed for carbon credit trading, which was used in the first-ever cross-border stablecoin transaction in March.
The regulation of stablecoin and cryptocurrency services in Australia is currently being considered. Pro-crypto Australian Senator Andrew Bragg introduced legislation to regulate stablecoin and cryptocurrency services as a private bill in March.
A draft of the bill had been released in September. In December, the RBA published a white paper on stablecoins and their regulation.
The successful pilot project with ANZ and GCV highlights the potential of CBDCs and stablecoins in carbon credit trading, improving transparency and efficiency while reducing risk.
The Australian government’s active involvement in exploring the use of CBDCs and stablecoins demonstrates the country’s commitment to innovation and staying at the forefront of technological advancement.
ANZ Bank CBDC
In conclusion, the partnership between ANZ and Grollo Carbon Ventures in the pilot project run by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, using the Australian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and the first Australian dollar-backed stablecoin, A$DC, highlights the potential of tokenization for carbon markets.
The success of the project also demonstrates Australia’s commitment to innovation and exploring the use of CBDCs and stablecoins in various scenarios. With the regulation of stablecoin and cryptocurrency services currently under consideration in Australia, the future of digital assets in the country looks promising.