The Bank of England (BoE), the U.K.’s central bank is the next European central bank to explore the use of cryptocurrencies. It has built a group with five other central banks, including Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank from Sweden and the Swiss National Bank to explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The group will be managed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and will be led by Benoit Coeure, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, and Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor of the Bank of England. The BIS set up the hub last June to encourage international partnership on innovative financial technology among the central banking community.
The group of six central banks and the BIS will now evaluate CBDC use cases; economic, functional and technical design choices, including cross-border interoperability; and the sharing of knowledge on new technologies.
They will also tightly work with the relevant institutions and forums, especially the Financial Stability Board and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI).
Other CBDCs
At least 18 central banks are now developing digital currencies, not including central banks that have announced they are considering issuing digital currencies or researching them.
Two central banks of the group, Sveriges Riksbank and the European Central Bank are already developing their own digital currencies, while the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank have also been researching CBDCs for a while.
The participation of the BoE and the Bank of Japan will bring new development. In August, BoE’s governor Mark Carney said a central bank-supported digital currency could replace the U.S. dollar as the global hedge currency.
The European Central Bank’s president Christine Lagarde has also remained optimistic about CBDCs by saying that CBDCs may provide people with a means of exchange in case physical cash would decline.
China’s central bank leads the CBDC race. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) recently said that the “top-level” design of its digital currency has been completed. The digital yuan will be first distributed to commercial banks and then users and businesses can register digital wallets with these commercial banks, the PBoC stated recently.
UK’s Tax Authority Finding Solution To Address Crypto Cybercriminals
In addition, AZ Coin News previously reported that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the U.K’s. the tax authority is looking to launch a blockchain investigation device that could assist it with recognizing cybercriminals exchanging in digital currency.
Particularly, HMRC is looking for a solution that could help track 7 digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ether Classic (ETC), XRP, Litecoin (LTC) and Tether (USDT) stablecoin. And HMRC also wants to track privacy-oriented coins such as Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH).
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