Bitcoin 0.1% higher, Ethereum at $4,220

The price of Bitcoin was around $59,440, while Ethereum was trading around $4,220

Bitcoin was trading 0.1% higher Thursday morning. The price was around $59,440 per coin, while rivals Ethereum and Dogecoin were trading around $4,220 and 23 cents per coin, respectively, according to Coindesk.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has stepped up research into running its own digital currency, but remains unconvinced of the merits, its payments chief said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The comments were made at a financial services conference.

An Australian Senate report last month called for laws to be changed in ways that were more amenable to digital currencies.

Most major economies are now considering whether to issue a central bank digital currency - although none have done so yet, said Reserve Bank of Australia head of payments policy Tony Richards.

Richards noted that the European Central Bank and Sweden appeared to be the most advanced of the major economies to consider a role for CBDCs. Richards said the U.S. Federal Reserve was more cautious.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) digital currency may see its pilot launch in the first quarter of the next fiscal year, a senior central bank officer said at the State Bank of India's Banking and Economic Conclave as reported by a local newspaper.

Central bank digital currencies, or (CBDCs) are digital or virtual currencies are basically the digital version of fiat currencies, for India that would be its domestic currency rupee, according to Reuters.

Previously, a soft launch of the CBDC could be expected by December, but there has been no official timeline committed to by the RBI.

The RBI has raised concerns over crypto currencies posing macro-economic and financial stability risks.