In the wake of the adoption of a digital currency by the Chinese Government, the Bank of England (BoE) has also stated its openness to adopt a digital currency to “retain public money capable of general use”, as described by the bank’s Deputy Governor, Jon Cunliffe.
Talks of its creation is something that Cunliffe has described as “probable”.
Cunliffe said, “We may not be there yet, but it looks probable in this country that if we want to retain public money capable of general use, and available to all citizens, the state will need to issue public digital money.”
Portending a monopolistic future of payments in the country, Cunliffe noted that putting off innovation could lead to one or two big firms dominating the payments industry.
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However, the hope expressed by Cunliffe is not shared by the President of the BoE, Andrew Bailey, who, at an event, shared his doubts concerning cryptocurrency.
Bailey said, “You’ve probably seen all the stories about the price of bitcoin, share prices in the U.S. suddenly rocketing up for companies that nobody quite knows what they do.
“Buy it if you want, but it has no intrinsic value.”
The subject of the creation of a digital currency by the BoE was stirred by the finance minister, Rishi Sunak, who had urged policymakers to consider the development of a central bank digital currency, dubbing it ‘Britcoin’
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