ANZ has established cooperation with two universities to test CBDC offline payments using smart cards, which can be loaded with funds and used as cash.

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This project is one of 14 programs for testing potential options for using the central bank’s digital currency. The initiator of the pilot programs is the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The ANZ project aims to provide users with the ability to make instant transactions on a peer-to-peer basis, even in an autonomous environment that is not connected to the banking infrastructure, through the use of blockchain technology and NFC-enabled smart cards.

This project will be held at the campuses of Southern Cross University and RMIT University. Students who take part in the testing will be given NFC-enabled smart cards preloaded with CBDC funds.

The initiators of the project want to demonstrate how an organization like a university can step in and provide immediate financial support by paying CBDC in emergency situations.

The pilot project involves several stages. Initially, universities will use a secure smartphone app to view CBDC balance. In the second stage, smart cards will be issued to test participants which they will use to make purchases on campus.

In the third stage, sellers will use the app to view the CBDC they have received and will be able to exchange their digital balance for fiat currency, which will be transferred to their bank accounts. The fourth stage, which will be implemented in cooperation with CBA, provides for the tokenization of natural assets, the issuance of stablecoins of a commercial bank, and the use of smart contracts to achieve atomic calculations using a public blockchain without permits.

This project should demonstrate the possibility of using CBDC as a risk-free settlement asset by supporting the issuance of stablecoins of a commercial bank denominated in Australian dollars.

As we have reported earlier, Bank of Japan Launches CBDC Pilot.