Bank of England to Open “Digital Pound Lab”

The Bank of England announced yesterday that they will be launching a “digital pound lab” to “experiment” with different “use-cases” and set-ups of the UK’s planned Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

This signals the end of the “consultation and response phase” and the beginning of the “design phase”, according to the BoE’s website.

This is the first real news on the digital currency front for some time.

In fact, after an action-packed 2023 saw at least 135 of the world’s 197 nation states developing a digital currency, things have been eerily quiet on that front. Some nations – including Japan and Canada – have paused or even entirely scrapped CBDC development.

Even the Bank of England’s announcement of the lab contains much softer language than the previously energetic and enthusiastic endorsements of digital currency. Noting the CBDC would be “used alongside banknotes” instead of replacing them, and that “No decision has been made on whether to proceed with a digital pound.”

Whether this is due to perceived public resistance to the idea, unexpected technological limitations, or some change in strategy we can’t know – it could easily be a mix of all three.

Still, it’s a reminder that digital currency likely remains the long-term goal.

But well done to all awakened people who have contributed to halting the roll-out thus far.

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