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Speaking at Fintech Week, the British Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out new initiatives to ensure the UK remains at the cutting edge of digitalising financial services.
A new Taskforce, bringing together HM Treasury and the Bank of England, will be established to explore a possible UK central bank digital currency (CBDC). Two new forums will also be established to engage technical experts, and key stakeholders (including financial institutions, merchants, business users, civil society groups, and consumers) through the process.
Commenting on the Chancellor's announcement, Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether said:
"We welcome the Bank of England and HM Treasury's decision to create a CBDC taskforce. We feel this represents another step forward in the journey of Tether tokens (USDt) and stablecoins more generally. A CBDC may make banking rails faster due to outdated payment and settlement systems.
"The creation of a CBDC for the pound would mean faster settlements rather than the current antiquated and creaky payment rails.Tether can provide a blueprint for how a CBDC could work. Still, CBDCs might not be issued on a blockchain like Ethereum. Rather, they may be deployed on permissioned blockchain technology rather than the permissionless blockchain on which USDt runs.The creation of CBDCs might represent a huge step forward for the world's monetary systems. These new rails will help enable a stronger and more globalized economy, which benefits everyone. CBDCs may help to address many of the fragilities of current payments rails, as made evident by the pressures of COVID.
"If Rishi Sunak wants some advice on how best to implement a CBDC I’ll always be available to take his text or call."
