Australia Payments Draft Eyes Stablecoin Interoperability

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Australia’s future payments infrastructure may need to support interoperability between bank money, stablecoins and tokenized fiat as digital assets move closer to mainstream payment use.

A draft vision for account-to-account payments, developed by the Account-to-Account Payments Roundtable, says future systems may need to support the secure movement of value between account-based money and tokenized forms of fiat currency. The roundtable includes AusPayNet, Australian Payments Plus, the Reserve Bank of Australia and Commonwealth Treasury.

Draft Links Tokenized Money to Future Payment Rails

The draft says account-to-account payments must evolve as the needs of consumers, businesses and government change. It sets out a future system built around trust, broad access, competition, innovation and resilience.

Stablecoins and tokenized liabilities are part of that shift, with possible uses in settlement, automation and programmable payments. That does not mean Australia is preparing to replace bank payments with stablecoins. The draft instead points to a future where existing account-based payment rails may need to connect safely with tokenized forms of fiat money.

Interoperability Becomes the Main Issue

The core idea is interoperability. If stablecoins, tokenized bank deposits and other digital money formats become more widely used, payment systems will need reliable ways to move value between those instruments and conventional accounts.

That could matter for payroll, supplier payments, government disbursements, remittances and tokenized asset settlement. Without interoperability, tokenized money could end up in separate pools of liquidity that are harder for businesses and consumers to use.

The draft also stresses that any future system must preserve trust, security and consumer protection. That means tokenized payment links would need strong safeguards around fraud, operational risk, access standards and settlement certainty.

Project Acacia Gives the Policy Backdrop

The draft comes as Australia continues testing tokenized settlement through Project Acacia. The RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre launched the project to examine how new forms of digital money and financial infrastructure could support tokenized asset markets.

Project Acacia has explored settlement assets including stablecoins, tokenized bank deposits, a pilot wholesale central bank digital currency and new uses of banks’ exchange settlement accounts at the RBA.

That makes the account-to-account vision part of a broader Australian policy track. Regulators are looking at both retail payment modernization and wholesale tokenized settlement, rather than treating stablecoins as a separate crypto issue.

Digital Asset Rules are Also Advancing

Australia is also updating its payments framework through Treasury’s payment service provider reforms and ASIC’s revised digital asset guidance, including proposed relief for certain stablecoin and wrapped-token distributors. Those reforms matter because stablecoin interoperability depends on regulated issuers, compliant platforms and clear rules for custody, redemption and payments activity.

For banks and fintechs, the draft indicates that stablecoins may increasingly be considered within mainstream payments planning. The next question is whether Australia can build rules and infrastructure that let tokenized money connect with bank payments without weakening safety, trust or regulatory oversight.