ANZ Bank launches A$DC stablecoin pegged to the Australian dollar

ANZ Bank, one of Australia’s four largest banks, announced the launch of a 1:1 Australian dollar-pegged stablecoin, A$DC, built on Ethereum. The Financial Review reports.

ANZ engages with regulators AUSTRAC and APRA to ensure regulatory compliance. The custodian Fireblocks provided the necessary infrastructure. OpenZeppelin conducted a smart-contract audit. Chainalysis signed a contract to assist with regulatory compliance.

The bank plans to launch A$DC on other blockchains, including Hedera Hashgraph.

A$DC is programmable and can interact with other Ethereum contracts. The bank expects fees to fall after the blockchain moves to the PoS consensus.

Competitors Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank have expressed interest in issuing their own version of the digital Australian dollar.

In ten minutes, ANZ conducted a test transaction with the Victor Smorgon Group family office for the equivalent of AUD 30 million in favour of the digital-asset fund manager ZeroCap. The partner avoided additional costs from converting to US dollars to buy, notably USDC, and saved time.

The deployment is expected to target institutional investors. The article suggested that retail clients would gain access after listing on an authorised platform.

Private stablecoins AUDT, TrueAUD and XAUD have not been listed on major crypto exchanges and do not have sufficient liquidity.

“We expect the digital assets economy to accelerate, and the foundational element will be the digital Australian dollar. Clients will be confident that they can use a stablecoin issued by a major authorised depository institution domestically without bearing currency risk,” said Nigel Dobson, head of banking services at ANZ.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Zerocap CEO Ryan McColl emphasized that the news from ANZ is also a global event. A$DC is the first fully regulated stablecoin issued by a traditional financial institution, he said.

Earlier, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that the country would issue its own digital currency and introduce rules for cryptocurrencies.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is participating in the ‘Dunbar’ project to test cross-border CBDC settlements under BIS auspices.

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