The Legal Future of CBDC in Australia: Sovereign Digital Money and the Payment System Reform

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-888-2_37How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC); digital currency regulation; legal framework; financial system governance; privacy and trust; regulatory design; payment system policy; institutional challenges; Australia

Abstract

As digital technologies reshape the way money and payments function, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have become a pressing topic in legal and policy circles. In the Australian context, the development of CBDC brings into focus the state’s role in managing the evolution of public money amid a rapidly changing financial landscape. This article examines the legal and institutional challenges posed by CBDCs, with particular reference to the Australian Payments System Strategic Plan 2023. It considers the distinct purposes and applications of wholesale and retail models, the division of regulatory responsibilities between public authorities and private entities, and the tension between legal stability and technological change. Drawing on international developments and domestic pilot projects, the article highlights how the development of CBDC has brought legal definitions, regulatory design, and public trust to the forefront of policy debate, positioning them as long-term issues in the evolution of Australia’s financial framework. Its significance goes beyond the technical realm of payments, reflecting a broader reconsideration of monetary authority and institutional structure within the Australian financial system.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shi Li
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/03
TI  - The Legal Future of CBDC in Australia: Sovereign Digital Money and the Payment System Reform
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 7th International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 377
EP  - 385
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-888-2_37
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-888-2_37
ID  - Li2025
ER  -