Bank Of England Joins Other Major Banks In Historic CBDC Meeting
- Swiss National Bank, ING Nederland, and Hungarian National Bank will also attend the meeting.
- The central banks will not only share the findings from their internal CBDC research, but will also discuss possible infrastructural designs of such a central bank digital currency.
Bank of England. Shutterstock
Bank of England (BoE) will be attending a key meeting tomorrow, alongside other banks, to discuss Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and the potential they have.
The meeting will be carried out in a virtual roundtable format, and will be hosted by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) on 19 August. Considered to be a key, historic meeting, it will be attended by officials from Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, ING Nederland and Hungarian National Bank. Sky Guo, the CEO of blockchain platform Cypherium, will also participate in the gathering in order to explain the benefits of the technology.
The OMFIF stated on its website:
“Following technology breakthroughs by private cryptocurrencies, central banks are considering the use of distributed ledger technology and blockchain to develop their own digital currency. Blockchain technology offers the benefits of operational resilience, transparency and tokenisation, among others. The extent of scalability, the balance between privacy and decentralisation, and interoperability opportunities warrant further exploration.”
One of the goals of this meeting will be to explore the impact blockchain technology can have on various models for CBDCs, for example the use of smart contracts to enable interoperability across blockchain networks “within and across borders”. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for the banks to share the findings from their internal CBDC research.
This is not the first time that the BoE has shown interest in the potential of CBDCs. Back in January, the central bank joined a working group with five other banks to explore the potential use cases for CBDCs. Later, in March, the BoE also released an in-depth discussion paper analyzing the potential of CBDC to support the bank’s task of managing monetary and financial stability.
While these banks are still in the discussion phase, others are already conducting tests on their CBDCs. A perfect example is Bank of Thailand, which has already made financial transactions with a number of businesses using its digital baht, and is now looking to expand its use to even more businesses in the country.
China, on the other hand, is already conducting tests of its CBDC in the cities of Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu and the future site of the winter Olympics. Recent reports also claim that the country’s Commerce Ministry was considering expanding the trials to include the provinces of Beijing, Tainjin, and Hebei.
- The head of China’s central bank digital currency institute said the e-CNY has undergone a major upgrade, and should be made available as an option in all retail scenarios.
- The PBOC official noted that platforms can integrate the CBDC in the short term using QR codes, and focus on upgrading their payment tools in the long run.
Office building of the People’s Bank of China. Flickr
- The current governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, announced he is joining the race for the 47th president of the U.S. during a Twitter Spaces event on Wednesday.
- During his speech DeSantis declared his support for Bitcoin and the wider crypto space, noting that if Joe Biden is re-elected “they’ll probably end up killing it”.
- Planned for 1 April, the CBDC trial will involve real consumers and real transactions, though they will be limited to a certain number of customers and transfers.
- The pilot, however, will not be opened to the general public in its first phase, and will only be opened to customers chosen by the 13 participating local banks.