Want To Compete With Bitcoin Cs, England Will Launch "Britcoin"?

UK to make digital pound to compete with bitcoin (Steve Smith / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Crypto money, which is increasingly popular among the wider community, has led a number of countries to try to stem Bitcoin cs by creating their own digital money. One of them is the UK which will launch virtual money "Britcoin".

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak told the Bank of England (BoE) on Monday 19 April to consider the potential of cryptocurrencies that have central bank support.

If the BoE supports the virtual pound, it is possible that businesses and consumers will have a direct account from the bank, thereby optimizing the role of the lender for the banking financial system.

"We are launching a new task force between the Ministry of Finance and the BoE to coordinate exploration work on a potential Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)," Sunak said as quoted by Reuters. Tuesday, April 20.

A similar opinion was also confirmed by the BoE. The British central bank also emphasized that the digital pound does not replace the role of physical money or existing bank accounts.

"The government and the BoE have not yet made a decision on whether to implement CBDC in the UK and will engage widely with stakeholders about the benefits, risks and practices of doing so," the BoE said.

Before Britain, a number of central banks in other countries had already planned to make their own digital money, including China, India and Indonesia. Its main objective is to expand access to central banks in their respective countries.

In addition, efforts to make digital money itself are also predicted to be able to make the payment mechanism faster and more efficient in order to reduce the risk of financial stability.

Apart from the British central bank, the European Central Bank is also studying digital money to complement banknotes and coins. However, Europe has no plans to launch its digital money anytime soon.

Andrew Bailey as the Governor of the BoE himself revealed that bitcoin as the most popular digital money has failed to be a stable store of value but is also an efficient way of financial transactions. Due to this condition, Bailey considers that digital money is not suitable as a currency because it is too risky for investors.

Previously, the UK's central bank had doubts about Facebook's attempts to make its own digital money, Libra. However, nowadays crypto money is becoming more and more popular among the world community than conventional money.

Last week, bitcoin touched its highest price of 65 thousand US dollars on April 14. Bitcoin has increased tenfold in just one year.