The National Australia Bank will launch a stablecoin, dubbed AUDN, on the Ethereum and Algorand Blockchains later this year. Howard Silby, NAB’s chief innovation officer, said the stablecoin would allow customers to settle transactions on the blockchain in real time via Australian dollars.
As such, NAB will become the second of Australia’s big four banks to launch a stablecoin. Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) 2022 minted its own stablecoin A$DC. Users believe Aussie dollar stablecoins could play a significant role in Australia’s energy transition plans. NAB plans to allow its stablecoin for carbon credit trading. It will also be used for cross-border payments and repurchase agreements.
Moreover, individual banks are also coming up with their own stablecoins after they failed to come up with a single industry-wide Australian dollar stablecoin. The project never took off because of competition concerns and the different stages that each bank was at in its crypto strategy.
Australia, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s leadership, is working towards modernizing the country’s financial system and updating the regulatory framework to adapt to crypto and other innovations. The Australian central bank is also going ahead with its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project which will be completed by mid-2023.
