The UK's central bank, the Bank of England (BoE), is looking at the possibility of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Bloomberg has learned, citing BoE Governor Andrew Bailey's announcement.
Bailey says CBDCs could have "huge implications on the nature of payments and society" and the regulator will go on looking at the question of creating a CBDC.
"I think in a few years time, we will be heading toward some sort of digital currency," the BoE's Governor said in a webinar event with students.
The BoE's intention to consider issuing of digital currency in much greater detail comes after the Head of Crypto at Visa, Cuy Sheffield, wrote on Twitter that CBDC is "one of the most important trends for the future of money and payments over the next decade."
In the beginning of July, Canada's central bank, the Bank of Canada, issued an analytical note for CBDC.
The bank explained that a CBDC should be designed to include many of the attributes of traditional cash (ease of use, portability, offline function).
At the same time, the central bank of the Republic of Korea, the Bank of Korea, created a legal advisory team to study the technical and juridical features of launching a CBDC.
The Korean regulator wants to clarify all the intricacies of launching a national digital currency by May next year. However, it also has been reported that the bank might reconsider the further extension of the study by the group at a later date.
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