AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Highlights
- Representatives from Monzo, PayPal and ASOS were added to the Bank of England and Treasury’s CBDC Engagement and Technology forums.
- The UK government had created a Digital Pound Forum alongside the CBDC Taskforce to showcase that it sees CBDCs as a viable form of currency.
- UK chancellor Rishi Sunak had in fact said they are still in the trial phase and not committed to call it the Britcoin.
After the Bahamas introduced the concept of Sand Dollar in October 2020, the buzz and interest around central bank-backed digital currency has come to force. Many governments around the world are exploring the opportunities to launch their own CBDCs.
While few countries are even thinking about the possibility of letting the fiat currency subside, some of them are also exploring a world where CBDCs can be integrated within the existing financial system. Seems to be the front-runner for now with the Digital Yuan being in active testing phase and it plans to allow foreign users to use the Digital Yuan during the upcoming Winter Olympics.
The UK government too have made its intentions clear when it announced the creation of Digital Pound Forum alongside the CBDC Taskforce to showcase that it sees CBDCs as a viable form of currency.
Also read: Which cryptocurrency exchanges are FCA approved in UK?
UK’s very own Britcoin
The buzz surrounding a UK launching its own central bank-backed digital currency gained momentum on Wednesday. Representatives from Monzo, PayPal and ASOS were added to the Bank of England and Treasury’s CBDC Engagement and Technology forums.
The bringing of the leading players of the UK financial sector could well be seen that the vibrant sector could very well start the next step towards the CBDCs. Although there is no official terminology for the UK CBDC, but media houses have popularly been dubbed as Britcoin and is expected to exist alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them.
UK chancellor Rishi Sunak had in fact said they are still in the trial phase and not committed to call it the Britcoin.
More and more CBDCs
Retail CBDC projects are popular in emerging countries. In fact, earlier this week, Nigeria became the first country to launch a website for its CBDC eNaira. The eNaria website went live ahead of schedule and has attracted more than a million hits in the 24 hours.
Also read: What is Beta Finance?
Africa has been one of the hubs of revolution when it comes to cryptocurrencies and many countries actively seeking an opportunity to launch their own CBDC or adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Recently, El Salvador too adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender. Cambodia, Paraguay, Brazil all have put together a team to explore with few of them even in testing phase of the CBDCs.
The BoE’s Engagement Forum has definitely given the vibes that Britcoin could well be on its way and the government is quite aggressive about exploring the opportunity of CBDCs. The forum will be key in helping the Central Bank and the Treasury figure out the feasibility of a CBDC.
