The Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones officially launched the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre in Sydney on Monday, saying the new body would support the government’s aim of “ensuring that innovation in the financial services market brings together the legal, technical and financial streams that will create challenges to the traditional way of commerce to create new possibilities”.

The government provided funding of A$60 million in June last year, with the initial participation of seven universities. Since then the centre has attracted a total of 25 partners, including the Reserve Bank, ANZ, Macquarie Group and the ASX.

The centre has a prospectus on its website, inviting university, industry and regulatory partners to get involved.

The centre was in the news earlier this month, when the Reserve Bank announced that it will work with the centre to explore the viability of a central bank digital currency in Australia. 

The project will focus on the scope for innovative use cases and business models that could be supported by the issuance of CBDCs.

The project will take about a year and will involve the development of a small-scale CBDC pilot that will operate in a ring-fenced environment. Industry participants will be invited to propose projects.

Speaking at the launch, DFCRC chief executive Andreas Fuchs said the centre’s priority would be developments in digital finance.

“We will test, develop and pioneer applications in a world where all asset ownership will be digitised,” Fuchs said.