The Bank of England and the European Central Bank said on Tuesday that major central banks will jointly discuss the possibility of issuing their own digital currencies amid mounting talk about the future of money and who will control it.
The two banks added that the central banks of Britain, the euro zone, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland will exchange their experiences in the framework of a new group headed by Benoit Coeur, a former official of the European Central Bank, in cooperation with the Bank for International Settlements.
Central banks around the world are accelerating the pace of studying the possibility of issuing their own digital currencies after Facebook seeks to issue the currency Libera.
It appears that the Chinese central bank is leading the race between the major banks and that it is in the process of issuing its electronic currency, although the details of this project are still very scarce.
"The group will be evaluating ... the economic, practical, and technical options for (currency) design, including cross-border compatibility, as well as the transfer of knowledge regarding emerging technologies," the Bank of England and the European Central Bank said in a statement.