The RBA plans to release a comprehensive assessment of the public policy case for a retail central bank digital currency in 2026/27, after focus groups suggested limited public enthusiasm.

Would Australians want a digital version of the dollar, issued directly by the Reserve Bank of Australia and held by households the way they hold banknotes today? It is a question central banks around the world have been exploring for several years, and the RBA has now signalled when it expects to put a considered answer on the table.

In its June 2026 update, following a meeting on 4 June, the Payments System Board said a comprehensive assessment of the public policy case for a retail central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is to be released in 2026/27. The same update noted that focus group findings suggest Australians show limited enthusiasm for the idea.

That combination, a formal verdict on the way and a lukewarm early signal from the public, makes the coming assessment one to watch for anyone interested in how Australians will pay and be paid in the years ahead.

What a retail CBDC actually is

It helps to start with the kinds of money Australians already use.

  • Cash is a direct claim on the RBA. A banknote in a wallet is central bank money, held by the public.
  • Bank deposits are a claim on a commercial bank. Most everyday digital payments, from tapping a card to transferring funds online, move this kind of money.
  • Banks themselves hold accounts with the RBA and settle obligations with each other in central bank money through RITS, Australia's real-time gross settlement system.

A retail CBDC would add a new option: a digital form of central bank money available to the general public, not just to banks. In principle, it would combine the safety of a direct claim on the central bank, like cash, with the convenience of digital payments.

That is distinct from a wholesale CBDC, which would be used between financial institutions, typically for settling large transactions. The Payments System Board's June update specifically referred to the public policy case for a retail CBDC.

The questions any assessment has to weigh

The RBA has not yet published its conclusions, and it would be premature to guess them. But the public policy debate around retail CBDCs, in Australia and internationally, tends to revolve around a familiar set of questions:

  • Problem and solution. What problem would a retail CBDC solve that existing payment methods do not?
  • Role of banks. If households could hold central bank money digitally, how might that affect bank deposits, and therefore banks' funding and lending?
  • Privacy. How would a digital currency balance user privacy against requirements to prevent financial crime?
  • Resilience and inclusion. Would it strengthen the payments system's ability to keep working in an outage, or help people who struggle with existing digital services?
  • Cost and complexity. Who would build and run the infrastructure, and at what cost?

The focus group findings add a demand-side question. A central bank can build a product, but if the public sees little reason to use it, the public policy case becomes harder to make. The RBA's reported finding of limited enthusiasm does not settle the matter, but it is a meaningful input into an assessment that must weigh benefits against costs.

Part of a busy payments agenda

The CBDC work sits alongside several other items from the Payments System Board's June update, which together give a sense of how the RBA is approaching the future of the payments system:

  • The Board approved the RBA's assessment of RITS against international principles.
  • A consultation was launched on wider payments system regulation, covering competition, efficiency and safety.
  • On the risk that quantum computing poses to cryptography, the industry is targeting December 2030 for cryptographic upgrades.

The quantum computing item is a reminder that questions about the future of money are not only about new products. The security of existing payment systems depends on cryptography, and upgrading it across an entire industry is a long-horizon task. Any future digital currency would face the same requirement.

The Payments System Board Annual Report 2026 was published on 23 September 2026,, and the RBA's reforms to card surcharging take effect on 1 October. Those changes concern existing payment methods rather than a new form of money.

Reading the signal so far

It would be easy to over-interpret the focus group finding. Focus groups are a qualitative tool: they reveal attitudes and concerns, not precise measures of how a whole population would behave. And public enthusiasm for a new payment method can change once people understand what it offers, or once circumstances change.

Equally, it would be easy to under-interpret it. Australians already have access to fast, convenient digital payments through their banks and card networks. For a retail CBDC to justify the cost and disruption of its introduction, it would likely need to offer something clearly valuable that existing methods do not. Limited public enthusiasm suggests that value is not yet obvious to the people who would be asked to use it.

The RBA has framed the coming work as an assessment of the public policy case, language that suggests a broad cost-benefit judgement rather than a narrow technical evaluation. That judgement will need to consider consumers, businesses, banks, the stability of the financial system and the RBA's own role.

When the assessment arrives, some questions readers may want to bring to it:

  • Does the RBA identify a clear public policy problem a retail CBDC would address?
  • How does it weigh potential effects on bank deposits and lending?
  • What does it conclude about privacy, resilience and inclusion?
  • How does the public sentiment evidence, including the focus groups, feature in its reasoning?
  • Does it recommend further work, a pause, or a different path, such as improvements to existing payment systems?

No outcome is guaranteed, and the RBA has not indicated which way it is leaning.

The bottom line

The RBA has set a timeframe for one of the bigger questions in modern money: whether Australia should have a retail digital currency issued by its central bank. A comprehensive assessment of the public policy case is due in 2026/27, and early focus group findings suggest Australians are not clamouring for one. For now, the digital dollar remains a question under study rather than a product in development, and the forthcoming assessment is the document that will shape the next step.