The Reserve Bank of Australia has moved beyond asking whether tokenization belongs in modern finance and is now concentrating on how to bring it into wholesale market infrastructure. That shift followed Project Acacia, whose findings pushed the discussion from theory toward execution. According to analysis from the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, tokenized markets could generate about AU$24 billion in annual benefits, or roughly $16.7 billion.
That estimate came from a pilot that tested a wide set of assets, counterparties and settlement models over more than a year. The result was not just a positive signal for tokenization, but a practical case for planning its staged rollout. In response, the RBA outlined a framework centered on wholesale market use, infrastructure trials and closer regulatory coordination.
From pilot results to implementation planning
Project Acacia began in November 2024 and concluded in March 2026, bringing together banks, custodians, fintechs, fund managers, stablecoin issuers and market infrastructure providers. The breadth of the pilot gave the RBA a realistic view of how tokenized markets might function across existing financial workflows. Participants tested around 20 use cases covering government and corporate bonds, repos, term deposits, investment funds and trade payables.
The pilot also explored multiple settlement methods rather than relying on a single design. Stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, wholesale CBDC and exchange settlement account balances were all tested as possible settlement rails. That made the exercise less about one technology choice and more about understanding which combinations could work in institutional settings.
DFCRC’s analysis pointed to measurable operational gains. A roughly 30% reduction in transaction costs and a compression of settlement times from days to seconds formed the economic core of the AU$24 billion estimate. The report also highlighted new revenue opportunities through fractional ownership, broader fixed-income liquidity and lower counterparty risk through atomic settlement.
Assistant Governor Brad Jones captured the change in posture directly. His remark that the question is now “how, not if” reflected a clear move away from experimentation for its own sake and toward market design. In other words, the RBA is no longer treating tokenization as a distant possibility but as a system that now requires planning, standards and governance.
The next phase will be slower, more technical and more regulated
The RBA has signaled that the next step will be controlled rather than immediate. Its proposed path includes a digital financial market infrastructure sandbox, regulator-industry advisory groups and policy reviews around exchange settlement account access and stablecoin issuer settings. Those measures are intended to address the legal, technical and interoperability issues that surfaced during the pilot.
The obstacles are still substantial. Entrenched network effects, legal uncertainty, coordination problems and unresolved questions around scalability, resilience and security remain major constraints on real-world adoption. Interoperability with legacy financial systems stands out as one of the most difficult operational issues, particularly for institutions that would have to connect tokenized workflows to existing custody, reporting and settlement processes.
The promise of faster settlement and deeper liquidity comes with a transition period likely to carry higher legal and operational risk. Institutions considering tokenized instruments will need to evaluate custodian models, settlement finality and changing rules around access to central bank infrastructure before the market reaches broader scale.