The Bank of England and His Majesty's Treasury plan to start working on building and testing CBDC prototypes in 2025.
The Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom, and His Majesty’s Treasury plan to launch the central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2030.
According to the Telegraph’s news report shared on February 4th, this week, the country’s central bank and finance ministry are planning to introduce a “digital pound” roadmap.
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Regarding the matter, the Bank of England's Andrew Bailey and current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt noted:
On the basis of our work to date, the Bank of England and HM Treasury judge that it is likely a digital pound will be needed in the future. It is too early to commit to build the infrastructure for one, but we are convinced that further preparatory work is justified.
In particular, officials believe that in 2025, “the earliest,” the central bank can start working on building and testing CBDC prototypes. It is estimated that until then, no specific answer regarding the launch of CBDC will be given.
When commenting on the CBDC launch, city minister Andrew Griffith told the Treasury Select Committee:
There are some really important public policy issues about how you come forward with the design of a sovereign digital currency. We have to get them right. I would rather be right than be first.
Therefore, it is not surprising that officials in the United Kingdom cannot decide unanimously about the need and adaptability of CBDC. The Bank of England stated that CBDC would “help to foster competition by ensuring no private sector firm dominates the market.” However, other officials in the UK were questioning such a benefit, noting that CBDC offered “risks but no obvious benefits.”
Just the other week, His Majesty’s Treasury released a consultation paper called “Future financial services regulatory regime for crypto assets.”
