United Kingdom: Opened consultation on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the United Kingdom

On 7 February 2023, the Bank of England (BoE) and HM Treasury published a paper on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the United Kingdom, the "digital pound", and opened a public consultation until 7 June 2023. In its paper, the BoE and Treasury outline the possible effects of the digital pound on financial and monetary stability and propose technical features for a potential model. In its form as a CBDC, the digital pound would be backed by the BoE, the UK's central bank. According to the BoE, a digital pound would improve interoperability between payment systems and private currency by being exchangeable with cash and bank deposits.