John Cunliffe: UK may need digital pound after FTX crash

The Bank of England Deputy Governor said the fallout from the collapse of the FTX exchange could result in the regulator needing an accelerated issuance of the government's stablecoin.

Speech at the Warwick Business School DeFi and Digital Forum Bank of England Deputy Governor John Cunliffe said:

“Over the past few days, I have received several comments that the collapse of FTX not only shows that we need to work hard and release the digital pound quickly, but that FTX shows what should not be done.”

John Cunliff assured that the Bank of England is actively assisting British legislators in issuing rules governing the crypto space. The official said that a Financial Services and Markets Bill is currently being discussed in Parliament, which could eventually classify cryptocurrencies as financial instruments. This will allow the Bank of England and the rest of the UK regulators to gain more control over the crypto industry. The bill is intended to give the central bank the power to regulate major issuers of crypto-asset-oriented payments such as stablecoins.

Exactly one year ago, Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey and his deputy John Cunliffe attended a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs, where they informed lawmakers about the Bank of England's support for the possible issuance of a digital pound, as well as calculations of who uses it, which in the future could affect about 20% all payments in the country.