Digital Pound Is ‘More Probable Than Not,’ According To BoE

A digital pound is more likely than 50/50, according to Bank of England deputy governor Jon Cunlifffe.

Cunliffe told the Treasury Select Committe that programmable money and micropayments will enable payments innovation with a digital pound.

MPs have said that the Bank is “ambivalent and half-hearted” about the project, but Cunliffe disagrees with this idea.

Asked by the Committee, on a scale of one to 10, how likely it is that a digital bank central currency will be needed, Cunliffe said:

“I’d say, I’m not sure it would be helpful to put a number on it… I’d just say it’s more likely than not.”

When asked whether the result would be six out of ten, he said, “Well, we’re talking more than five.”

Cunliffe stressed that the Bank must continue its experimental work because waiting for the numbers to lurch to nine out of 10 would need a five-year catch-up with other markets.

“These are big projects… this would be a very serious thing that would have to be resilient, fraud-proof, secure,” he says. “If we just wait until we say OK now we think it’s needed, we will be five years behind.”