Westpac Institutional Bank and Imperium Markets have partnered to integrate Chainlink in Project Acacia, a collaborative effort with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Finance CRC. This project aims to explore new digital monetary forms and their potential for creating a central bank digital currency suitable for wholesale payments.

The RBA and DFCRC are investigating various digital currencies as well as the tokenization of assets, which can enhance efficiency in issuance, trading, clearing, and settlement while reducing associated risks.

Westpac’s PayTo Initiative

Westpac is advancing its real-time payment capabilities through PayTo, a digital alternative to direct debit payments. PayTo offers enhanced visibility, control, transaction data, verified authorizations, secure storage, and lower costs compared to traditional methods.

This initiative supports the RBA’s broader objectives by enabling the settlement and clearing of large payments within the wholesale banking sector, necessary for tokenized asset transactions. Additionally, it presents an opportunity to experiment with post-quantum cryptography in practical scenarios.

The proof of concept is being developed in collaboration with Imperium Markets and Chainlink. The ultimate goal is to achieve secure and compliant DvP (delivery versus payment) settlement of tokenized assets within blockchain markets while leveraging the existing PayTo Australia domestic payment system. This approach is crucial for fostering the adoption of digital assets and integrating institutional capital into blockchain environments.