The state-backed cryptocurrency that is central bank digital currency (CBDC), has been a hot topic among governments across the globe and a number of these nations have already expressed their intentions in developing their own. One of these countries is the United Kingdom as its government’s efforts in regulating the use of cryptocurrencies within that nation are well-documented. That said, UK’s National Westminster Bank claims that the development of a so-called digital pound could be pilot soon.
NatWest chair on UK CBDC
This was stated by NatWest’s Chairman Howard Davies during an event. He suspects that within three to five years, the digital pound could be seen operating in the UK on a sort of pilot basis, to begin with.
It’s worth noting, that even though the country’s central bank – the Bank of England – is still having deliberations as to whether to back the idea of having a CBDC, the said financial institution sees it as a sensible development.
The NatWest chairman believed that as the cash continues to flow out of the economy, the CBDC could be a logical development. He pointed out, however, that this will be troublesome from a banking standpoint.
Bitcoin bad
While enumerating the benefits of having a CBDC, Davies also threw jabs at bitcoin deeming it as environmentally disastrous adding that the granddaddy of tokens is of no use for transactions apart from purchasing coke on the dark web. He further criticized the digital currency stating that it is not a store of value and the BTC being too volatile.
Meanwhile, William Lovell – head of future technologies at the Bank of England recently revealed that the BoE is actively exploring the case for a possible central bank digital currency. However, no decisive actions were made at this time.
The central bank Governor, Andrew Bailey was also at the same event as he made some clarification on the development of a digital pound and said that the BoE and the U.K. were not behind in terms of a CBDC development. Bailey said that one has to answer the question – exactly what are the issues they are trying to resolve adding that they have to be very clear on what it is they think the CBDC will be doing and what it could potentially do for the betterment of the system.
