However, insiders say it may take at least five years before a CBDC comes to fruition in Australia.

The RBA announced this month it is piloting 14 use cases for a central-bank-issued digital Australian dollar. This week’s transactions are the first example of cross-border, multi-currency exchange using a stablecoin issued by a large, regulated financial institution anywhere in the world. NAB will use the Ethereum blockchain to send Australian dollars to its subsidiaries offshore. NAB in January became the second of the major banks to create its own stablecoin, known as the AUDN – backed one-for-one with Australian fiat money held on trust at the bank – nine months after ANZ launched a similar product known as A$DC. The transfers – to NAB’s subsidiaries in New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Europe and Britain – point to a future of instant and cheap cross-border payments compared to the current system, known as SWIFT.

National Australia Bank will test foreign exchange transfers using the Ethereum blockchain and its own stablecoin as it moves to offer a digital version of the Australian dollar even before a central bank digital currency created by the Reserve Bank.

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