Tech
‘Britcoin’ Suspended as Bank of England Considers Blockchain Technology
Britcoin is still under discussion at the Bank of England, according to a speech given on Monday. (Aaron Chown, PA Images)
In a speech on Monday, a Bank of England official stressed that the Bank is not set on launching a digital pound, while touting the potential benefits of tokenisation. Bank of England deputy governor Sarah Breeden said consultation is underway on what has been dubbed “Britcoin” in the press, with an exploration of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), a potential part of the future of digital payments in the world. UK.
In April 2021, the Bank said it would launch a task force in collaboration with the Treasury to explore the feasibility of a digital pound. At the time, the Bank said that any CBDC would be a new form of digital money that could be used by households and businesses. It would exist alongside cash and bank deposits and not replace them.
The Bank had also previously said that if it launched a CBDC it would not be before the end of the decade. He sees one of the biggest risks as digital money’s potential to undermine trust in money, payments and the entire financial system.
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“Our work over the next two years or so will be focused on making a robust and objective assessment of the potential benefits and costs, including operational and technical feasibility,” Breeden said Monday. “To do this, we will consider the potential design of a digital pound in greater detail, based on technology experimentation and proofs of concept with the private sector.”
Meanwhile, the Bank is carefully examining the possibilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and tokenization
This technology has the “potential to deliver greater efficiency and functionality for retail and wholesale payments” in the real world,” Breeden said. “Innovation is important to our role in maintaining monetary and financial stability and has also the potential to deliver significant benefits to customers and businesses, economic activity and growth.”
DLT could facilitate “faster and more efficient processes with fewer intermediaries,” he added, explaining that tokenization has the potential to increase liquidity across a broader range of financial assets.
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