Few buildings exude a sense of austerity like the headquarters of the Bank of England. Yet just from those rooms the Governor Andrew Bailey announced the most innovative that institution can issue: the birth of a Crypto Pound a Britcoin, which will have nothing less than the digital effigy of Her Majesty King Charles III and will become the alternative to cash.
The establishment of the digital pound has thus reached the consultation stage, the final decision is expected by 2025 and could debut on the market as early as the end of the decade.
The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak he thus wants to put a stop to the increase in private cryptocurrencies, such as the Bitcoin, and delle StableCoins, digital currencies guaranteed by fixed assets, as other countries are already doing, starting from the EU with the digital euro.
The public consultation is underway to reassure citizens after the Ftx crack
La The roadmap expects the trial to start next week public consultation. It will last four months and will be an opportunity for reassure citizens that state-backed electronic money is stable, and it has nothing to do with private cryptocurrencies that have seen forstiise volatility and suffered the consequences of the Ftx failure.
Cryptocurrencies currently in circulation are viewed by the central bank as highly speculative and not substitutes for so-called fiat currencies, currencies issued by central banks.
The price will be pegged to the value of the pound
The “Britcoin” would instead be something similar to a stablecoin. But above all the "price” will move in line with the value of GBP, instead of moving wildly and without fundamentals, as Bitcoin has done in the last year.
The future digital pound will be very similar to the pagamenti online current: usable for purchases on Amazon and similar e-commerce sites, using a smartphone. Instead it cannot be used to earn interests (like Staking for cryptocurrencies). Furthermore, in the initial phase, one is foreseen restricted use: a maximum of 20 crypto-pounds per person will be set, precisely to prevent Britcoin from replacing current accounts in a short time. Indeed, according to the intentions of the Bank of England, the future digital pound will not replace but will complement cash.
Where are we with the digital Euro?
Last June, the European Union released the regulation relating to the "pilot scheme", which will enter ieffective March 23 and which is part of the European digital finance package. "It is essential that the process of introducing the digital euro by the ECB be accelerated," he said Massimo Mocio, president of Assiom Forex, during the introductory speech of the 29th Assiom Forex Congress last week, in light of the progress recorded by the Fed and Bank of China. "2023 will be a crucial year, but "more incisive regulation could serve the purposes of protecting investors from speculative ventures, so that it can constitute a driving force for the development of the economy and the markets", he added
The European Commission is expected to soon present the draft regulation that will give the European Central Bank the powers to manage digital currency in full autonomy. Last November the Reserve Bank of India launched the digital rupee trial.
