The Bank of England has staffed two third-party working groups, which will provide input as the central bank looks into a central bank digital currency (CBDC), The Block reported. The groups are the Engagement Forum and the Technology Forum.
Members of the groups include people who have worked in neobanks and payments, along with companies in the crypto sphere, such as PayPal, Monzo, Starling, Checkout.com, ConsenSys, R3, Visa and Mastercard and others, according to the report.
The Engagement Forum is to gather strategic input on policies and functions of a CBDC, the report stated. Meanwhile, the Technology Forum will focus on helping the bank understand the challenges of designing, implementing an operating a CBDC.
The Bank of England hasn’t decided on whether to implement a CBDC, according to the report. It has been seriously considering it, however, and last spring the bank formed a task force to address the topic.
The new forums, per the report, will help the bank gather information on the types of companies and stakeholders which might someday front a private sector ecosystem for the digital currencies.
Sir Jon Cunliffe, Bank of England deputy governor, said in May that it was likely that a CBDC could be rolled out in the future, as there would be a need for a new way to boost public money rather than having private alternatives, the report stated.
CBDCs are being rolled out or tested more often now. In Nigeria, the eNaira digital currency has been approved to debut on Oct. 1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria coin will have a legal tender along with non-interest-bearing asset status. It will have both customer and value-based transactions capped after a point.
The goal is to offer a speedy, safe, simple trading option for customers. The CBDC will come with a unified payment system, a bank account management system and more.
