- A UK central bank digital currency could be in place by the end of the decade
- A four-month consultation on the ‘Britcoin’ starts today, with a decision due by 2025
- The move would be in line with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s desire to make the UK a crypto hub
A UK central bank digital currency, dubbed the ‘Britcoin’, could be in place by the end of the decade, according to the Bank of England and the Treasury. The Guardian yesterday reported that a four-month consultation period starts today over a potential digital pound, which comes hot on the heels of both the bank and the Treasury advertising for individuals to head up their respective elements of their CBDC plans.
UK Crypto Hub Plans Accelerate CBDC Plans
The UK has been publicly slow to consider a CBDC, and there is no promise that the consultation will end in a recommendation to adopt one, but with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wanting to make the UK a crypto hub it would be odd if it chose not to adopt such one. However, a decision will not be made until 2025 at the earliest, with deployment not technically feasible until the end of the 2020s.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, a noted crypto critic, said of the country’s plans that the case for a digital pound in the future “continues to grow” and added that it would “”provide a new way to pay, help businesses, maintain trust in money and better protect financial stability.” Of course, he didn’t mention the fact that this new form of money will be easier to confiscate and will allow for greater government surveillance of an individuals’ spending.
The UK will be keen not to allow the likes of China to get too much of a head start with the digital money revolution, although by the time any Britcoin did launch it would be about 10 years behind China and its digital yuan.
