Bank of England Seeks Successful Local Pound Stablecoins, Sees No CBDC Rush

Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said the Bank of England sees no need to rush a CBDC for the public as digital payments rapidly innovate, while commercial stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits may provide some functions envisioned for a digital pound.

The comments position privately issued digital payment instruments as part of the United Kingdom’s evolving payments system.

The Bank of England seeks successful local pound-denominated stablecoins as an alternative to dollar stablecoins. That would help prevent British consumers and businesses from relying on dollar stablecoins for innovative payment services.

The Bank of England is also upgrading its real-time gross settlement system to support tokenized financial transactions and round-the-clock instant settlement.