The British parliament and not the Bank of England must decide whether to introduce a state-backed digital currency because the move would have “far-reaching consequences”, an influential committee of the House of Lords warned on Thursday.
Dismissing many of the potential advantages of a digital currency issued by the central bank, a report by the House of Lords Economics Affairs Committee said the proposal had potentially serious implications, including privacy issues. It described the concept as “a solution in search of a problem”.
The BoE, which set up a joint task force with the Treasury last year to evaluate the costs and benefits of its own digital currency, is one of more than 90 central banks worldwide exploring the concept.