The Bank of England and the UK Treasury have announced the joint creation of a taskforce to coordinate the exploration of a potential Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

A CBDC would be a new form of digital money issued by the Bank of England and for use by households and businesses. It would exist alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them.

The taskforce will be co-chaired by Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, Jon Cunliffe, and HM Treasury’s Director General of Financial Services, Katharine Braddick.

Bank of England said in a statement that as appropriate other UK authorities will be involved in the taskforce.

The taskforce aims to ensure a strategic approach is adopted between the UK authorities as they explore CBDC, in line with their statutory objectives, and to promote close coordination between them.

The Bank of England has also announced that it will establish a CBDC unit that will lead its internal exploration around CBDC.

It unit lead the bank’s external engagement on CBDC, including with other UK and international authorities. The Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Jon Cunliffe, will oversee the work of the CBDC unit.

The government and the Bank of England have not yet made a decision on whether to introduce a CBDC in the UK, and will engage widely with stakeholders on the benefits, risks and practicalities of doing so.

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