The Bank of England is stepping up research into a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and has selected a number of banking experts and fintech experts to assist.
On September 29, the Bank of England announced the members of its CBDC Engagement and Technology Forums (CBDC Engagement and Technology Forums), which includes Google, Mastercard, Consensys, and even some of the largest companies in the technology and financial fields such as Spotify.
This week’s announcements show that the Bank of England is taking its CBDC plans seriously. The Technology Forum will draw resources from leading experts in digital payments and cryptocurrencies, it said.
"The forum will help the BoE understand the technical challenges of designing, implementing and operating a CBDC."
The Engagement Forum includes "senior stakeholders from industry, civil society and academia" who will assist the BoE and Treasury to "understand the practical challenges of designing, implementing and operating a CBDC".
Technologists include PayPal's blockchain and cryptocurrency CTO Edwin Aoki. He was joined by Will Drewry, principal software engineer at Google, and Matthieu Saint Olive, CBDC and payments manager at ethereum software solutions firm ConsenSys.
The tech forum also included executives and payments experts from Amazon Web Services, Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, IMB, R3 and music streaming platform Spotify.
The forum featured banking executives and business experts, including Georges Elhedery, Co-CEO of Global Banking and Markets at HSBC, Arun Kohli, Chief Operating Officer at Morgan Stanley, and Stephen Gilderdale, Chief Product Officer at SWIFT, the interbank communications standard.
As Cointelegraph reported, the Bank of England began tentatively researching CBDCs in November 2020. In April, the Bank of England published a list of job vacancies related to CBDC research and development.
However, it remains skeptical of cryptocurrencies, with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warning about the risks of trading in cryptocurrencies in May, telling investors to "buy when you're ready to lose all your money."
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