Select committee: Treasury Committee
Recommendation 12
First Report - The digital pound: still a solution in search of a problem?
Published 2 Dec 2023
Paragraph 60
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee The crypto-asset industry All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Building the infrastructure needed for a digital pound would also likely be very expensive, and the eventual decision on whether to launch a digital pound will need to be subject to a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. The Bank of England and Treasury must approach this analysis from a neutral stance—the launch of a digital pound must not be viewed as an inevitable consequence of investing in further detailed design work. The policy question must remain ‘why do it’ rather than becoming one of ‘why not do it’.
From: Treasury Committee, First Report - The digital pound: still a solution in search of a problem? (HC 215), paragraph 60, 2 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 31 January 2024 (deadline 1 February 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.HM Treasury and the Bank of England say that no decision has been taken on whether to introduce a digital pound, and that the design phase will inform a decision "later this decade".
- On privacy, they "agree that strong privacy safeguards would be vital" and say the Government "has committed to guaranteeing users' privacy in primary legislation if a digital pound were launched".
- On interest, they do not commit to further analysis or to keeping the option open: a digital pound "would be unremunerated at launch", and any later change would be "preceded by a review with full consultation".
- On costs, the Bank "acknowledges" the request for a separate line item and says it "will consider the appropriate reporting mechanism going forward".
- On holding limits, they are "minded to proceed at this stage" with a £10,000 to £20,000 limit, "at least during the introductory period", while remaining "open to revisiting the bounds of this range if new information came to light".