Australia is moving digital assets towards practical use as legislation, industry trials and central bank engagement advance together, Justin Chapman, executive vice president and group head of strategic partnerships, digital assets and financial markets at Northern Trust told Investor Daily.
The Digital Assets Framework Act received Royal Assent in April and is due to bring digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms within the financial services licensing regime from April 2027.
In May, the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre published Project Acacia’s final report, which covered 20 wholesale use cases and set out further work.
The RBA has since consulted on the role of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System in a tokenised ecosystem.
“What’s different here is the sequencing: legislation, industry experimentation and central bank engagement are moving together,” Chapman said.
The next step, he argued, was to move from pilots towards production.
Project Acacia tested whether tokenised assets could settle against money institutions already use.
Northern Trust simulated synchronised delivery-versus-payment settlement for tokenised carbon credit transactions through its Carbon Ecosystem, with Chapman saying the work showed existing Exchange Settlement Accounts could support tokenised settlement.
“You don’t need to wait for digital cash such as stablecoins or deposit tokens to start,” Chapman said.
The payment rails remain a constraint, however, because tokenised assets can move around the clock while RITS settles only on business days.
The Fast Settlement Service currently handles mostly low- to medium-value New Payments Platform payments, and Chapman said legal certainty on settlement finality and interoperability between new and existing infrastructure would also be needed.
Chapman said the market still needed clear, workable rules for stablecoins and stored-value facilities, alongside global alignment on standards.
Commercial returns would depend on sufficient volume across connected networks, he said, while custodians, banks and market operators were investing in the foundations.
Superannuation offers one potential test of the infrastructure, given the system’s roughly A$4.8 trillion in assets and the operational demands of benefit payments.
Chapman said shorter settlement cycles could reduce idle cash, shared records could cut reconciliation, and more efficient access could broaden investment opportunities, provided trustees’ requirements for governance, custody and member data were met.