Alongside growing scrutiny of cryptocurrencies is a rising interest among governments of the world in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The Indian government, which is no fan of decentralized crypto, launched two CBDC pilots late last year. Their retail CBDC pilot was initially started in four cities but has recently been extended to 15 cities.
The motivation behind a digital rupee seems to be not only trying to block out cryptos but positioning the Indian currency to compete with rival China.
In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, the UK Treasury and the Bank of England kicked off a public consultation period until June on a proposal to adopt a CBDC dubbed “Britcoin.”
They wrote that
“the Bank of England and HM Treasury judge that it is likely a digital pound will be needed in the future.”
Many have seized on the suggested limits capping citizen CBDC holdings between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds as an example of CBDC’s fundamentally changing the nature of money as a freely exchangeable good.
Between digital yuans, digital euros, and now the potential of a Britcoin, the CBDC conversation is certainly heating up.
