As some of you may have seen, the Bank of England and the Treasury have today published, as a Consultation Paper, the report of the Bank of England – HM Treasury Taskforce on the introduction in the UK of a central bank digital currency – a ‘digital pound’. So I am grateful for the opportunity today to set out some of the thinking behind the report and the next steps we propose. First, however, I should set out the headline conclusions of the Taskforce. Our assessment is that on current trends it is likely that a retail, general purpose digital central bank currency - a digital pound – will be needed in the UK. This ... (full story)