Bank of England Deputy Gov. Jon Cunliffe told lawmakers a digital pound would make it easier for U.K. residents to make micropayments—but doesn’t Bitcoin already do this?
The U.K. Treasury and the central bank say that the digital pound would give the country a new digital payments system, but they don’t want you to call it "Britcoin."
After its second reading of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, members of the British House of Lords have voiced concerns that it does not go far enough and that a whole new regulatory approach will be required.
The Bank of England has previously revealed that it would outsource the CBDC wallet to a private company and it’s now pledging £200,000 to a CBDC wallet PoC.
While exploring the digital pound, BoE deputy governor John Cunliffe said the recent FTX collapse highlighted the need for financial institutions to be organized and the essence of regulations.
The BoE joins the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada, which has been working with MIT, but it insists that it’s just research and the two won’t develop a central bank digital currency.
The Deputy Governor said the risks posed by stablecoins as well as decentralized and derivatives trading on unbacked assets, were enough to require a more hands-on regulatory approach.
The upper house of the U.K.’s parliament, the Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee is calling for public submissions on whether a digital pound should be adopted in the country.
U.K. Treasury insiders have confirmed that a task force has been established to explore how the CBDC, which some are dubbing ‘Britcoin,’ might work.
The taskforce will coordinate exploration of the objectives, use cases, opportunities and risks of a potential CBDC, as well as guide the evaluation of its design features, among other responsibilities.
The U.K. Treasury said it was working on proposals for a new regulatory structure for stablecoins and other digital currencies.
