The biggest Australian bank, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has teamed up with the state-run innovation fund Data61 in creation of a blockchain-powered “smart money” system.

Its essential goal is to develop a smart, programmable money that works similar to a blockchain token, where the issuer can monitor and control the spend.

The “smart money” concept was introduced in early October, following the announcement made by the government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) that’s been looking to integrate blockchain in the welfare payment delivery, to make the whole process more cost-efficient and transparent.

The “smart money” concept involves easily programmable money that can be used for payments based on specific rules, which may follow any specific details, including which services the token will be paying for, by whom and when.

“Our use of blockchain added new kinds of programmable behaviors to the smart money in the prototype system. This automation and flexibility could reduce friction and enable greater innovation in many payment environments and unlock network-effect benefits,”

said Dr. Mark Staples, Senior Principal Researcher in the Software and Computational Systems program at CSIRO’s Data61. According to CBA, the economic payoff of the system would hit “hundreds of dollars a year,” and with CBA being the largest bank in Australia we have all grounds to presume that this technology wouldn’t stop there.

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