The Bank of England and the Treasury have announced the membership of the CBDC and Treasury forums. Representatives from ASOS, Spotify, and PayPal will be joining the forums, which will discuss the UK's central bank digital currency.

They announced the formation of these organizations and the CBDC Taskforce on April 2021, which coordinates the explorations into a potential digital pound.

The Technology Forum held its first meeting in late September. Meeting agendas and minutes will be released regularly, according to the Bank.

CBDCs are digital equivalents of fiat currencies backed by a central bank. Countries all across the world are now exploring the advantages of developing them.

As the announced by Bank of England in April, any UK cryptocurrency would be a new type of digital money. CBDCs are a new kind of central bank currency that could potentially benefit economies in a way similar to how stimulus checks, emergency loans, and other types of monetary policies do.

The Technology Forum brings together feedback on all areas of CBDC technology from a wide range of industry experts. Edwin Aoki, PayPal’s CTO for blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currencies, executives from Monzo, IBM, and Spotify, as well as a UCL academic and a World Economic Forum policymaker, are among the members of the CBDC Engagement Forum and CBDC Technology Forum.

The event will assist the bank in better understanding the technological problems associated with creating, implementing, and operating a CBDC.

In June, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) outlined its recommended approach to fundamental elements of CBDC design, stating that retail CBDCs are available in two variants.

BIS prefers digitally identified account-based systems, an account-based design that confirms users’ identities as “rooted” in a digital ID system. The other variant is a cash-like design that provides for token-based access and payment anonymity.

Pavan A

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA