The Bank of England is discussing the potential of launching and issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
According to a report by Bloomberg, the Bank’s governor Andrew Bailey revealed plans during a webinar event with students on Monday.
He said: “We are looking at the question of, should we create a Bank of England digital currency.”
“We’ll go on looking at it, as it does have huge implications on the nature of payments and society.”
Bailey’s comments come six months after a group of central banks, including the ECB, formed a coalition to see assess the viability of developing their own digital currencies following the launch of private sector projects like Facebook’s Libra.
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He continues by stating that although a digital currency won’t be implemented immediately, it will likely happen in the next few years.
“I think in a few years time, we will be heading toward some sort of digital currency,” he added.
“The digital currency issue will be a very big issue,” Bailey said. “I hope it is, because that means Covid will be behind us.”
Central Banks in Europe aren’t the only ones that are eyeing up the potential of a digital currency, with the Bank of Japan beginning testing on its digital Japanese Yen earlier this month.
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