The partnership is ANZ’s first use-case as part of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot run by the Reserve Bank and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC).
For this use case, ANZ and GCV sought to test tokenisation of real-world, nature-based assets, starting with ACCUs. To do this, ANZ said it tokenised existing ACCUs and issued its stablecoin, A$DC, enabling GCV to purchase tokenised ACCUs with settlement occurring in near real-time via ANZ smart contracts.
The transaction was conducted on a public, permissionless blockchain, which ANZ said demonstrated the use of digital assets to reduce settlement time and help mitigate settlement-related counter-party risk. Pilot CBDC was used as a risk-free asset to support the issuance of A$DC.
ANZ banking services lead Nigel Dobson said: “ANZ is pleased to be working with GCV to test what’s possible as we explore secure access to the digital economy in a way that also supports the community and environment.
“When applied to carbon markets, tokenisation has the potential to improve efficiency and transparency, reduce risk and preserve the unique characteristics of underlying projects to incentivise investment in climate solutions.”
A$DC is the first-ever Australian-bank issued Australian-dollar stablecoin, and ANZ executed the first payment last year through a public, permissionless blockchain transaction.
Grollo Group chief executive Lorenz Grollo said: “Grollo Carbon Ventures was established to invest in innovative sustainability solutions, and this transaction has been an exciting research opportunity.
“As more organisations implement net-zero transition plans, the demand for nature-based assets is expected to grow significantly.”
The purpose of the DFCRC pilot, announced by the RBA in 2022, is to explore use cases for a CBDC in Australia and the potential economic benefits of its introduction.
“The project with the DFCRC will help address this gap by focusing on innovative use cases and business models that could be supported by the issuance of a CBDC,” the RBA said.
“The project will also be an opportunity to further understanding of some of the technological, legal and regulatory considerations associated with a CBDC.”
ACCUs are issued by the Australian government’s Clean Energy Regulator to projects compliant with approved methodologies for emissions avoidance, reduction or removal.
ACCUs possess unique information attributable to their underlying project including selected methodology, project location, project proponent, and additional environmental and social benefits. Tokenisation can help provide accurate records of these attributes and ensure asset integrity.
