The Bank of England (BoE)'s chief cashier, Sarah John, expressed her preference for digital currencies issued by the state, according to an article published on 22 February by The Telegraph. She called on other central banks to consider the development of a crypto of the central bank's currencies in response to recent movements by private companies in the digital payment sector.
John declared that it was "really important" to take into account that the central banks were thinking of the digital currencies of the central bank [CBDC] "as an option" in response to the efforts made by large technology companies to develop stable coins.
The official BoE warned that failure to act may force regulators to catch up on digital payments to private companies, claiming that it is "crucial" that central banks "consider whether the public or private sector would be best placed to provide digital currency in the future.
John's statements come a few days after the President of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Randal Quarles called on G20 members to accelerate their efforts to develop a regulatory apparatus for virtual currencies and stable coins.
In a letter sent to central bank governors and finance ministers, Quarles stressed the pace of innovation in digital payments and the emerging stable coin sector, deciding to "speed up the development of the necessary regulatory and supervisory arrangements for these new instruments.
On 23 February, the G20 published a press release stating that "global stable coins [...] must be assessed and treated appropriately before they are released" and committed to support "the Financial Stability Board's efforts to develop regulatory recommendations" on virtual currencies.
In January, the BoE set up a group with five other central banks to explore the possibility of introducing virtual government currencies to prevent the monetary sovereignty of national governments being undermined by Facebook's planned crypto Libra.
