The UK is considering the introduction of a ‘digital pound’.
Andrew Griffith, economic secretary to the Treasury, told fellow MPs on the UK Parliament Treasury Committee that there would be a lengthy runtime up to the introduction of a national central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Unlike cryptocurrencies, CBDCs are issued by a central bank. Physical money such as notes and coins are not produced; a so-called digital pound would only exist in electronic form.
The Bank of England says it is “looking carefully at how a UK central bank digital currency (CBDC) might work”, but adds: “We have not yet made the decision to introduce one.”
“I want to see us establish a regime, and this is within the FSMB (Financial Services and Markets Bill – currently being debated in Parliament) for the wholesale use for payment purposes of stablecoins,” Griffith told the Treasury Select Committee.
“It is right to seek to embrace potentially disruptive technologies, particularly when we have such a strong FinTech and financial sector.”
Describing the initiative as “a long lead-time activity”, he said a public consultation on a digital pound would be launched in coming weeks.
On regulation, he added: “We want the right regime, operated in the right way, that has the right balances in it.”
He committed to holding at least six roundtables with crypto industry figures to “expose us as regulators and decision makers”.