blockchains. NAB’s Chief Innovation Officer, Howard Silby, stated that AUDN could also serve other purposes, such as carbon credit trading and repurchase agreements.
NAB’s stablecoin is fully backed, one-for-one, with Australian fiat money held in trust by the bank. This currency comes nine months after the Melbourne-based rival ANZ created their own stablecoin, known as A$DC. This move highlighted the growing role of banks in driving innovation in the digital economy. NAB plans to launch the stablecoin by the middle of 2023 if everything goes well.
The creation of stablecoins by individual banks has emerged after the big four banks of Australia attempted to create an industry-wide Australian dollar stablecoin early last year, but the effort failed due to competition concerns and banks being at different stages in their crypto strategy.Australia’s government was still mulling over stablecoin regulation at press time.