BTC Markets welcomes RBA’s Project Acacia findings and call for industry engagement
Paul Stonham
BTC Markets, Australia’s digital asset and cryptocurrency exchange, welcomed the findings of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Project Acacia and the RBA’s commitment to accelerating responsible innovation in Australia’s wholesale financial markets.
Paul Stonham, Chief Commercial Officer at BTC Markets and member of the Project Acacia Advisory Group, said the findings mark a defining moment for Australia’s digital asset industry.”Project Acacia represents a turning point. The RBA’s decision to move from exploratory pilots to a longer-term, stage-gated sandbox environment signals genuine institutional commitment to making tokenised finance work in Australia, not just studying it.
“For regulated digital asset businesses, the most significant development is the coordination now underway between the RBA, ASIC, and AUSTRAC to resolve the legal and regulatory ambiguity that has constrained institutional participation in this space. Greater clarity around tokenised asset classifications, settlement finality, and licensing frameworks will unlock the investment needed to move these markets forward.
“Australia needs regulated digital asset marketplaces for these products and initiatives to be brought to market properly. For tokenised assets to be accessible, trusted, and tradeable at scale, they need to be listed on fair, orderly and transparent central limit order books operated by regulated exchanges. That is the standard investors, issuers and regulators should expect, and it is the standard BTC Markets has already built to deliver, and we are working hard with ASIC on our Markets License application.
“We welcome the establishment of the Regulator-Industry Tokenisation Advisory Group and the proposed C-suite Roundtable on the Future of Digital Finance in Australia. BTC Markets intends to contribute actively to both forums. Regulated exchanges sit at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets, that perspective is directly relevant to the questions these groups will be working through.
“BTC Markets has operated under Australian regulatory oversight for over a decade. We have consistently advocated for a framework that enables innovation without compromising consumer protection or financial system integrity. The direction set out in Project Acacia aligns with that position, and we stand ready to play our part in what the RBA rightly calls a Team Australia effort.”
