Australian flags money as a future payment rail issue
Australia's future account-to-account (A2A) payment systems may need to be overhauled if tokenized currencies find wider use, including stablecoins and tokenized liabilities, according to a draft vision for the country's domestic payment system.
The draft, jointly developed by the Account-to-Account Payments Roundtable, including AusPayNet, Australian Payments Plus, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Commonwealth Treasury, has identified the draft as one of several external forces influencing future A2A payments for digital assets.
“Tokenized currencies such as stablecoins and tokenized debt are moving from experimentation to adoption,” the draft says, noting that the transition reflects a move toward programmable, ledger-based value that enables new settlement models, continuous availability, and more automated execution.
The consultation suggests that Australian payments planners are beginning to consider tokenized money for mainstream payments infrastructure design.
“A2A” systems “may need to support secure interactions between account-based funds and fiat currency representations,” the document said.
Common types of A2A payments. Source: RBA
The draft envisions digital assets as a potential parallel layer of value to payments from other emerging powers.
He said these technologies could reshape how payments are initiated, authorized and managed while introducing new risks around accountability, responsibility, data use and settlement.
Australia's growth simulation work
The A2A consultation comes as Australia continues extensive work on tokenized money, stablecoins and digital asset regulation.
In the year In July 2025, the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center announced selected use cases for Project Acacia, a wholesale digital money project exploring tokenized asset markets.
The RBA's proposed use cases include stablecoins, bank bond tokens, a pilot wholesale central bank digital currency and new ways to use banks' existing trading accounts at the RBA.
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On March 25, RBA Assistant Governor Brad Jones said the next phase of financial system innovation will require moving beyond short-term pilots to longer-term areas where industry and regulators test new technologies and adjust policy settings.
He said wholesale CBCC's interoperability with bank deposit tokens and stablecoins, as well as aligning tokenized asset ledgers with Australia's settlement infrastructure, would be areas of interest.
Australia has moved to bring parts of the digital asset sector into its financial services framework. In November, the Treasury Department said proposed digital asset rules would introduce two new financial products, digital asset platforms and token platforms, requiring them to be licensed by the Australian Financial Services Authority.
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