Nature-based Asset Trading

Target 

Institutional investors 

Problem

Increased institutional demand for nature-based assets (for example, carbon credits, biodiversity credits and sustainable agriculture practices) will require the development and continued evolution of market infrastructure to facilitate efficient trading and investment in these assets at scale. 

Solution

Tokenisation has the potential to improve efficiency and reduce risk compared to existing solutions. ANZ will demonstrate the tokenisation of nature-based assets, issuance of commercial bank stablecoins, and the use of smart contracts to achieve atomic settlement via a public permissionless blockchain. 

CBDC Leverage

This pilot aims to demonstrate the use of CBDC as a risk–free settlement asset by supporting the issuance of commercial bank AUD–denominated stablecoins. 

The Opportunity

As institutions implement net-zero transition plans the demand for nature-based assets is expected to grow significantly. Tokenised real-world, nature-based assets (e.g., carbon credits, biodiversity credits) and tokenised currencies (e.g., CBDC, commercial bank-issued stablecoins) can be used to deliver tangible customer benefits in terms of real-time settlement and reduced counterparty risk. 

Pilot

Demonstrated the tokenisation of existing Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) and real-time settlement of a transaction with the tokens. The use case demonstrated pilot CBDC’s utility as  ‘proof of reserve’ for a Stablecoin, to allow for atomic settlement on a public permissionless network. The pilot CBDC facilitated efficient trading with reduced counterparty risk.