Future Australian account-to-account (A2A) payment systems may need to be adapted if tokenized forms of money gain wider adoption, including stablecoins and tokenized liabilities, according to the draft vision for Australia’s national payment rails.
The project, jointly developed by the Bill Payments Roundtable, which includes AusPayNet, Australian Payments Plus, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Commonwealth Treasury, identifies digital assets as one of several external forces that may impact future A2A payments.
“Tokenized forms of money, such as stablecoins and tokenized liabilities, are moving from experimentation to adoption,” the project said, adding that this shift reflects a shift toward ledger-based programmable value that could enable modern settlement models, continuous availability and more automated execution.
The consultation suggests that Australian payment planners are beginning to consider tokenized money as part of the design of mainstream payments infrastructure.
The document states that A2A systems “may need to support secure interoperability between money in an account and tokenized representations of fiat currency,” allowing funds to reliably flow between these environments while maintaining trust.
Common types of A2A payments. Source: RBA
The project also considers digital assets as a potential parallel layer of value alongside other emerging forces shaping payments.
It said these technologies have the potential to transform the way payments are initiated, authorized and managed, while introducing modern risks around accountability, responsibility, data utilize and resilience.
Australia is making progress on tokenization
The A2A consultation comes as Australia continues its broader work on tokenized money, stablecoins and the regulation of digital assets.
In July 2025, the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre announced selected utilize cases of Project Acacia, a wholesale digital money project exploring settlements in tokenized asset markets.
The RBA said proposed settlement assets for utilize cases include stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, a central bank wholesale digital currency pilot, and modern ways to leverage banks’ existing settlement accounts with the RBA.
Related: The Australian cryptocurrency is sanguine about progress despite persistent problems
March 25, RBA Deputy Governor Brad Jones he said the next phase of financial system innovation would require moving beyond short-term pilot projects towards long-term, phased environments in which industry and regulators can test modern technologies and adjust policy settings.
He said areas of focus would be the interaction of wholesale CBDC with bank deposit tokens and stablecoins, as well as the synchronization of tokenized asset ledgers with Australian settlement infrastructure.
Australia has also moved to include parts of the digital asset sector in its financial services framework. In November, the State Treasury he said the proposed digital assets regulations would introduce two modern financial products, digital asset platforms and tokenized custody platforms, requiring them to have an Australian financial services license.
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