Bank of England & Treasury urged to use private sector for new digital pound
Summary
Its launch would require deep public trust in this new form of money…The journey towards issuing any digital pound therefore necessarily involves an open, national conversation about the future of our money, in parallel with detailed technical consideration by experts across the UK public authorities, and informed by evolving market trends.” The deVere CEO notes: “Given the high level of research and development, and the backing from the Prime Minister, who has given it the media-friendly tag the ‘Britcoin’, and due to tech increasingly being at the core of how we live, work and do business, we fully expect that the Bank of England and the Treasury will inevitably launch a state-backed digital pound. “We believe that they’ll announce their decision to do so by 2025.” A digital pound is, agrees Nigel Green, likely to have many advantages, including convenience, efficiency and transparency, but potentially what it could not offer the user is privacy. As part of the official consultation, he noted that it is “important to point out that a state-backed, programmable digital currency will provide the government with greater oversight of citizens’ transactions in real-time. A digital pound is likely to become an infringement on our privacy, rights, and ability to control our own money.” However, the deVere CEO concedes a UK state-backed currency is on its way and a way to mitigate potential issues and foster opportunity would be to involve the private sector. Nigel Green concludes: “Despite some reservations, a digital pound is on its way, we believe, and we, therefore, urge the Bank and the Treasury to capitalise on the expertise and experience of the private sector to ensure its ultimate success.”