A cross-industry consortium known as Digital FMI, will lead trials of the UK’s first digital sterling backed stablecoin set to launch in autumn this year.
The consortium will showcase its findings to the Bank of England on the stablecoins performance. Digital FMI is behind the initiative ‘Project New Era’ which aims to bring about a financial revolution within the UK.
The stablecoin project is expected to last for one to two years and along with testing the digital currency, Digital FMI will look to include evaluations of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The consortium is made up of an array of companies, one of them being Rosa & Roubini Associates, a firm led by CEO and Head of Research, Brunello Rosa, who emphasised that Digital FMI are in place to keep up with the tremendous pace of digital currencies.
“Currently, 105 countries are exploring paths towards a CBDC, while 10 countries have now fully launched a digital currency,” he stated.
“The market continues to develop at a tremendous pace, with the British government having announced plans to make the UK a global crypto bhub, the ECB declaring recently that CBDCs could be the ‘Holy Grail’ of cross-border payments.”
The consortium intends to use the blueprint laid out by Project New Era to launch private-sector pilots in multiple jurisdictions across the world.
Made up of some of the most influential financial institutions, commercial banks, payment providers, and more, Digital FMI puts the wheels in motion for further anticipation of a potential regulation legislation for cryptocurrencies within the UK.
Along with the Treasury’s intended plans outlined in the Queen’s Speech in April, the Treasury included a crypto bill inside a revised review of the UK Markets bill, proposed last July.
The UK population will now be able to use Crypto.com’s ‘suite of products’ too, after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) handed the crypto exchange platform regulatory clearance to operate within the country yesterday.
Kunal Jhanji, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, a consortium partner, commented: “The world is undergoing a financial revolution from which there is no turning back.
“With the advent of DLT and blockchain technology, digital assets are ushering in a new era for money, with potentially transformative benefits for consumers, businesses, and states.
“The industry needs to now come together to help the lawmakers and central banks shape the design and regulatory aspects of the biggest change we will see in the payments ecosystem in our lifetimes.”
