Britain to push ahead with readying ground for a digital pound

Getting the design of a digital pound right is a bigger priority than a rapid launch, Britain’s Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith said on Tuesday.

China has pushed ahead with piloting a digital yuan and the European Central Bank is studying a digital euro, piling pressure on Britain to do the same and keep abreast of advances in financial technology.

The finance ministry is due to launch in the coming weeks a public consultation on the attributes of a digital pound.

“The consultation is going to say this is an if and not a when. We are not fully into the inevitability of doing this,” Griffith told the UK parliament’s Treasury Select Committee.

A digital pound raised many public policy issues, he said.

“We have got to get them right. I would rather be right than be first,” Griffith said. “It will be a long lead-time activity.”

The first case use of a digital pound would probably be in the settlement of wholesale financial transactions, he added.

But given public policy considerations for a digital currency, a wholesale, private fiat-backed stablecoin would probably get there first, Griffith said.

The European Union is also due to publish a draft law this year to legally set up and regulate a digital euro.

Griffith said there will also be a public consultation in coming weeks on Britain’s first general regulatory approach to crypto assets, a sector where consumer protection has come under scrutiny in recent weeks.

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