Central banks want to issue their own digital currencies. After the success of Bitcoin and various altcoins, such a decision was to be expected. So far, no institution has effectively done so, although things are progressing nicely behind the scenes. Venezuela, for example, will issue the Petro very soon. Bank of England has also solidified their plans to issue a digital currency. If things go according to plan, this may happen at some point in 2018. For now, no official date has been announced or confirmed.
Rumors regarding Bank of England and a new digital currency have been circulating for months now. It is evident a lot of financial institutions have no desire to embrace Bitcoin. At the same time, they want to cater to consumers’ needs. Digital payments are on the rise in most countries. For banks, this means they will need to adapt or perish. Issuing a national digital currency makes a lot of sense in this regard. Doing so, however, is something else entirely.
Bank of England Forges Ahead With RS Coin
No one can deny it would be interesting to see Bank of England issue their currency. It will not replace fiat, but rather be complementary. Rumor has it this currency may be greenlit as soon as 2018. A central back-backed digital currency will certainly shake things up a bit over in the UK. Whether or not that will be for better or worse, has yet to be determined. We do know Bank of England has been experimenting with DLT to complete settlement between central banks.
It is unclear if the concept of RS Coin still matters. More specifically, this version of a central bank digital currency was proposed not too long ago. However, not much has been heard of it ever since. It introduces some intriguing efficiencies regarding money supply control and limiting the coins in circulation. It is a digitized version of how central banks control money in physical form today. Whether or not anyone has a need for RS Coin or a similar version, is an unknown factor at this point.
How all of this will play out, remains to be determined. The interest by the Bank of England to pursue this opportunity is certainly genuine. There’s a big difference between writing a paper for such a currency and effectively issuing it to the masses, though. Moreover, no one knows for sure which blockchain will be used for this specific purpose. A private ledger seems to be the most logical choice. There are still a lot of unknowns as far as this project is concerned. Rest assured this is not the last we will hear of this venture in 2018.
Header image courtesy of Shutterstock
