The Bank of England and the UK HM Treasury have released a consultation paper in which they outline concerning plans for a Central Bank Digital Currency or so-called ‘digital pound’. The paper has been reviewed by the Bank-Treasury CBDC Taskforce, established in 2021.
While the bank is still considering the details of the digital pound, it has yet to decide whether to create a direct central bank account for users, or issue a token (similar to USDT). If introduced, the CBDC would be used by households and businesses for daily spending. Its introduction would potentially disintermediate the big four banks in the UK: Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, HSBC, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The BoE and HM Treasury will engage with stakeholders for views on the proposed model, per the announcement.
At the same time, a roadmap unveiled by Governor Andrew Bailey and Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury secretary for the US) Jeremy Hunt explained that the goal is to prevent a run on banks. To do this, a transfer limit may be included initially. Of course, there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary government policy.
Per the Telegraph, the two officials said that users will be prevented from hoarding the new digital pounds issued by the Bank of England. The term ‘hoarding’ is used instead of ‘saving’, which is noteworthy as there is nothing wrong with saving and storing value. The instantaneous nature of the so-called ‘digital pound’ is in its fast transaction capabilities as opposed to the legacy banking system which doesn’t work on weekends.
The previously mentioned consultation paper suggested that the limit could be £10,000. Notably, this is in contrast to stablecoins such as USD Tether, which has no transaction limits. Bitcoin and Litecoin cannot have limits on transfers or savings (by design).
As the developments are underway, bank CEOs in the UK are blocking customers’ access to cryptocurrencies, supposedly due to concerns over fraud and volatility, per reports. Executives appeared before the Treasury Select Committee to discuss the issue. The report is commensurate with rumours circulating online that various governments are trying to ‘choke out’ crypto by limiting ordinary people’s access to sound money via legacy financial rails.
I don’t want to alarm, but since the turn of the year, a new Operation Choke Point type operation began targeting the crypto space in the US. it is a well-coordinated effort to marginalize the industry and cut of its connectivity to the banking system – and it’s working
— nic carter (@nic__carter) February 7, 2023
CEO of NatWest Group, Alison Rose told the committee that the bank had taken a “pretty hard line” on cryptocurrency due to the stability and volatility of the platforms and the risk of fraud. Social media and tech. platforms were cited as the main source of fraud. The executives showed support for the new regulations proposed by the UK Treasury.
The developments suggest that a private-public cabal of bankers and statists are working on ways to lock Brits into strict financial rules in regards to how they use their own money. This explains the UK’s attempt to restrict access to bitcoin and the crypto sector, all the while pursuing its CBDC development, would turn the British pound into a fully-surveilled coupon code with an expiration date.
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