NAB pushes forward with stablecoin ambitions

NAB will soon begin testing its own stablecoin, AUDN, about a year after it first unveiled plans for the currency.

The bank's executive of innovation and partnerships Howard Silby said institutions "are starting to have a mainstream blockchain moment”.

NAB minted the AUDN stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain in December last year.

Silby said AUDN “is not yet available for more widespread use” but that testing will commence “shortly”.

“We will shortly start testing our stablecoin with internal transactions before we look to expand the use cases working closely with the needs of our corporate clients," he said.

Silby saw NAB as having “an important role to play in advancing the maturity of the blockchain enabled sector.”

“Our focus is very much on looking at use cases where there is high friction and clear customer benefit particularly for larger businesses in our corporate and Institutional banking client base," he said.

“This could be in helping deliver instantaneous settlement for corporate clients conducting cross border remittance activities, or it could be in assisting with things like carbon credit trading activities that we know many of our clients are increasingly interested in pursuing.”

Despite caution around cryptocurrencies, many of Australia’s biggest banks are starting to move into the stablecoin and digital currency space.

ANZ has completed its own stablecoin transaction in an Australian first, with a cryptocurrency called A$DC.

The stablecoin transaction was successfully completed last March for Victor Smorgon Group via private wealth management firm for digital assets, Zerocap.

At the time, ANZ banking services lead Nigel Dobson said that “stablecoins are a new way for customers to transact” and was “excited” to continue its trial.

The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) also released a white paper last year requesting submissions about the creation of a possible Australian central bank digital currency (CBDC).