United Kingdom’s digital pound meets public backlash

United Kingdom’s digital pound meets public backlash

British society is both civil and democratic, so it wasn’t unexpected that the government of the United Kingdom would “consult” the public before signing off on a digital version of the British pound. The response it received may have been surprising, though.

The public canvassing conducted jointly by His Majesty’s Treasury and the Bank of England between February and June of 2023 drew some 50,000 responses, and it unleashed a “public backlash,” according to The Telegraph — a U.K. newspaper — with “widespread public concern about privacy as well as anger over the possible consequences for cash.”

Not only could a digital pound, dubbed “Britcoin,” be used to surveil U.K. citizens, respondents feared, but it could also potentially destabilize the U.K. financial system because the digital pound would be easier for depositors to move out of commercial banks in times of crisis, promoting bank runs.

This latest pushback comes as many in the crypto sector continue to view central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) with suspicion — or as clumsy government attempts to snuff out private money, including decentralized cryptocurrencies.