Bank of England reveals its plans for CBDC Forums

Like many other governments, the UK is planning to try its hands on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The nation’s central bank, Bank of England, has declared that it has started its research and selected a long list of banks and experts for assistance.

The Bank of England, on September 29, revealed the plans they have over CBDC engagement and technology forums. It has talked to advanced finance and technology experts such as Google, Consensys, Mastercard, and Spotify.

It added, “The Forum will help the bank to understand the technological challenges of designing, implementing and operating a CBDC.”

The announcement is a clear indication of the seriousness of the UK government. It added that the Forum draws resources from renowned professionals and experts in cryptocurrencies and digital payments.

The engagement forum also includes Senior stakeholders from the crypto industry, civil society, and technological academia. The bank said that these institutions and individuals would assist the bank and treasury in knowing and understanding the ground-level challenges in creating, implementing, and operating CBDC.

The Forum includes various executives and experts in the field of digital payments like Amazon Web Services, Visa, IMB, MasterCard, R3, and Spotify, one of the largest music streaming platforms.

List by Bank of England

The advanced technology expert of the Forum by Bank of England includes Edwin Aoki, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the blockchain and cryptocurrency domain of PayPal. It also has Will Drewry and Matthieu Saint Olive, Google’s Principal software engineer and CBDC Payment manager of Ethereum.

The list also contains business experts and banking executives such as Georges Elhedery, co-CEO of Global Banking and Markets at HSBC, and Arun Kohli, COO of Morgan Stanley. It also has the Chief Product Officer (CPO) of SWIFT.

The list is rigorous and has the most talented and deserving professionals. The bank started its research and development in CBDC in November 2020. It also posted a list of vacancies related to CBDC research and development.

In May, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, had also warned investors, saying “buy them only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.”