Australia Approves 24 Tokenized Asset Trials With Real Money

Australia has taken a significant step forward in its exploration of tokenized finance, with the approval of 24 tokenized asset trials. These trials will utilize real money, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and stablecoins under the ASIC-backed Project Acacia. The initiative aims to test blockchain-based settlements and involves major banks and fintech companies.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has granted regulatory relief to 14 participants in Project Acacia, a collaborative effort between the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre. This project is designed to explore how digital forms of money can support institutional trading of tokenized assets, which are digital representations of real-world assets such as bonds, property, or commodities. These assets are recorded on blockchain technology, enabling fractional ownership and faster settlement of traditional financial instruments.

The selected use cases for the trials span a wide range of asset classes, including fixed income, private markets, trade receivables, and carbon credits. Major financial institutions such as ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Westpac will participate alongside fintech companies like Fireblocks and Zerocap. These participants will engage in what officials describe as “world-first” testing scenarios, allowing for responsible testing of tokenized asset transactions between participants and financial institutions over the coming months.

The regulatory clearance provided by ASIC supports streamlined pilot operations, which would otherwise face regulatory barriers. The trials will involve nineteen pilots with real-money and real-asset transactions, while five proof-of-concept cases will use simulated transactions. Settlement assets will include stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, and pilot wholesale CBDC, alongside new applications of banks' existing exchange settlement accounts at the RBA. The pilot wholesale CBDC issuance will occur across multiple distributed ledger technology platforms, including Hedera, Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, Canvas Connect, and other EVM-compatible networks.

Testing will run for six months, with the findings to be published in the first quarter of 2026. The project is a key initiative outlined in the Government's Statement on Developing an Innovative Australian Digital Asset Industry, which sets out Australia's strategy for blockchain and digital asset development.

One industry observer noted that the project favors permissioned systems and established financial players, raising concerns about the potential for increased financial control. The observer warned that if successful, the project could see traditional financial systems become further entrenched in society, yielding even greater financial control than before.