CommBank, J.P. Morgan, ASX, and HQLAx complete RBA trial
19 May 2026 Australia
Image: Steve/stock.adobe.com
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), J.P. Morgan, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and HQLAx have completed their collaboration under Project Acacia.
The project is a joint initiative led by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital 麻豆影视传媒 Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), exploring the role of digital money in tokenised wholesale markets.
The collaboration highlights how digital currencies and digital collateral records can improve the speed, efficiency, and resilience of Australia鈥檚 US$350 billion repo market.
Bianca Bates, head of J.P. Morgan Payments in Australia and New Zealand, comments: 鈥淭his signals a turning point for Australia鈥檚 repo market, showing that digital money and tokenised assets can deliver the speed, transparency, and resilience that modern financial systems demand.
鈥淲e鈥檙e creating a pathway for key players to transition to next-generation infrastructure. Kinexys by J.P. Morgan provided the blockchain infrastructure to make this possible, building on our track record of processing over US$3 trillion in notional volume of transactions.鈥�
The repo market has increasingly been seen as a leading candidate for tokenisation as global markets shift toward faster, more automated infrastructure, says CBA.
Australia鈥檚 repo market plays a vital role in the economy by providing essential short-term funding for banks and financial institutions, enabling the RBA to implement monetary policy, and supporting the efficient functioning of government bond markets.
The CBA use case combined global and domestic infrastructure, including J.P. Morgan鈥檚 Kinexys multi-asset tokenisation platform, CBA鈥檚 Gravital digital assets platform, HQLAx鈥檚 collateral mobility solution, and ASX鈥檚 local market expertise, to test interoperable settlement models in a controlled test environment.
As part of the use case, repo transactions were settled using CBA Deposit Token and wholesale Australian dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC), with the securities leg orchestrated on the HQLAx platform using tokenised assets held at ASX.
Sophie Gilder, managing director, Blockchain and Digital Assets at CBA, says: 鈥淭okenisation is moving from theory into real-world application in core financial markets and has the potential to reshape how systemically important funding markets operate.
鈥淔or a market as critical as repo, even small gains in speed, liquidity, and risk reduction can have system-wide impact. With technology maturing, regulatory progress underway, and global investment accelerating, the conditions are now falling into place for tokenisation to scale.鈥�
Richard Glen, solutions architect at HQLAx, adds: 鈥淧roject Acacia demonstrates how tokenised collateral and digital cash can materially enhance efficiency, liquidity, and resilience in capital markets.
鈥淚mportantly, the initiative highlights how interoperable digital technology can evolve in alignment with regulatory expectations, supporting the next generation of robust and well-governed market infrastructure.鈥�
The project is a joint initiative led by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital 麻豆影视传媒 Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), exploring the role of digital money in tokenised wholesale markets.
The collaboration highlights how digital currencies and digital collateral records can improve the speed, efficiency, and resilience of Australia鈥檚 US$350 billion repo market.
Bianca Bates, head of J.P. Morgan Payments in Australia and New Zealand, comments: 鈥淭his signals a turning point for Australia鈥檚 repo market, showing that digital money and tokenised assets can deliver the speed, transparency, and resilience that modern financial systems demand.
鈥淲e鈥檙e creating a pathway for key players to transition to next-generation infrastructure. Kinexys by J.P. Morgan provided the blockchain infrastructure to make this possible, building on our track record of processing over US$3 trillion in notional volume of transactions.鈥�
The repo market has increasingly been seen as a leading candidate for tokenisation as global markets shift toward faster, more automated infrastructure, says CBA.
Australia鈥檚 repo market plays a vital role in the economy by providing essential short-term funding for banks and financial institutions, enabling the RBA to implement monetary policy, and supporting the efficient functioning of government bond markets.
The CBA use case combined global and domestic infrastructure, including J.P. Morgan鈥檚 Kinexys multi-asset tokenisation platform, CBA鈥檚 Gravital digital assets platform, HQLAx鈥檚 collateral mobility solution, and ASX鈥檚 local market expertise, to test interoperable settlement models in a controlled test environment.
As part of the use case, repo transactions were settled using CBA Deposit Token and wholesale Australian dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC), with the securities leg orchestrated on the HQLAx platform using tokenised assets held at ASX.
Sophie Gilder, managing director, Blockchain and Digital Assets at CBA, says: 鈥淭okenisation is moving from theory into real-world application in core financial markets and has the potential to reshape how systemically important funding markets operate.
鈥淔or a market as critical as repo, even small gains in speed, liquidity, and risk reduction can have system-wide impact. With technology maturing, regulatory progress underway, and global investment accelerating, the conditions are now falling into place for tokenisation to scale.鈥�
Richard Glen, solutions architect at HQLAx, adds: 鈥淧roject Acacia demonstrates how tokenised collateral and digital cash can materially enhance efficiency, liquidity, and resilience in capital markets.
鈥淚mportantly, the initiative highlights how interoperable digital technology can evolve in alignment with regulatory expectations, supporting the next generation of robust and well-governed market infrastructure.鈥�
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